F 

1234 
L.4 


UC-NRLF 


*C    Ifl    ESI 


o 
o 

o 


t 


(&££%£*& 


wifyrtV 


"*."". 


\ 


zo 


)UT  MEXIC 


bird's-eye  view  of  political,  social,  and  economic 
ditions,  together  with  an  analysis  of  past  American 
cy  and  a  suggestion  for  the  future — based  on  a  tour 
observation  in  Mexico  November- December,  1916. 


David  Lawrence 

Washington  Correspondent  of  the 


with  the  sit-        "The  most  important  series 
>  Evening  News.       which  has  appeared  in  some 

ew   York        time  on  the  ^kject  of  Mexi' 
co." — Daily  Financial  America. 


"No  one  has  a  juster  appre- 
ciation of  the  complexities  of 
the  problem."— Charleston(S.  C.) 
News  and  Courier. 


The  fault  is  not  in  our  stars,  but  in  ourselv 


the 

v.  Post  Co, 


Price  Ten  Ce 


I    L* 


■ 


LZO 


(\*f&'*3Hllf3 


r-  /    . 


KCZ>0<KC^O<C>00<^<><Z>00<Cr><)(^^ 


oreword 


We  talk  a  great  deal  in  this  country  about  the  ignorance  of  the 
I\,_.Yicans  aiid  the  stupidity  of  their  attitude  towards  the  United 
Stares.  We  forget  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  almost  as 
'11- informed  about  Mexico  as  the  Mexicans  are  about  this  country. 
It  is  iv-jz  the  fault  of  the  public  that  this  is  trueT^  trustworthy  infor- 
mation regarding  conditions  in  Mexico  has  been  very  difficult  to  ob- 
tain, isinformation  has  been  widely  circulated^  It  has  been  hard, 
indeed,    o  get  the  facts  on  which  one  could  rely.  , 

Because  this  has  been  the  situation,  the  New  York'  Evening 
Post  ".en:  its  Washington  correspondent,  David  Lawrence,  to  make 
a  mur  of  observation.      He  was  unusually  qualified  for  the  assign- 
ment.     He   had   not   only  followed    closely    the   development   of 
American    policy,    spending    some    time    in    intimate    touch 'with 

i  Mexican- American  Joint  Commission  at  New  London  and  At- 
lantic  City,  but  he  had  himself  visited  Mexico  as  a  newspaper  cor- 
respondent several  times  before.  Mr.  Lawrence  speaks  Spanish 
fluently.  Before  coming-  to  the  Evening  Post  a  year  agp, 
he  was  in  charge  of  the  Mexican  story  for  the  Associated  Press 
while  m  Washington.  Previously — 191 1,  1912,  and  1915 — he 
was  sent  to  Mexico  by  the  Associated  Press.  He  was  at  the 
battle  of  Juarez  which  decided  the  Madero  revolution  in  191  1, 
winning  special  recognition  from  the  A.  P.  for  his  graphic  descrip- 
lions.     He  travelled  southward  with  Madero,  visiting  Zapata  and 

il.  <  i'iiefs  and  remaining  with  him  until  the  Presidential  campaign 
began  in  Mexico  that  year.  In  191 2,  Mr.  Lawrence  was  sent  again 
by  the  Vssociated  Pres^  to  take  charge  of  the  Mexican  story  in 
northern  Mexico,  where  Orozco  was  in  revolt  and  Huerta  was  mov- 
ing northward  as  commander-in-chief  for  Madero.  In  September, 
to1;,  before  recognition  was  extended,  Mr.  Lawrence  visited  Gen. 
Carranza  at  Vera  Cruz,  getting  interviews  from  the  First  Chief  on 
his  attitude  toward  the  lTnited  States.  He  has  known  Carranza  per- 
sonally for  many  years,  as  well  as  the  other  personalities  conspicuous 
in  the  daily  dispatches  from  Mexico  in  the  last  six  years.  -  Mr.  Law- 
rence 'joys  the  confidence 'of  leading  Mexicans  of  all  classes,  has 
man.  friends  in  the  country,  and  is  an  unbiassed  observer.  He  went 
«.v?th  no  preconceived  theories,  but  in  an  effort  to  tell  just  what  he  saw, 
what  (r >m  his  knowledge  of  the  past  constituted  the  fundamentals 
of  the  situation,  whether  it  had  really  improved  or  gotten  worse,  and 
he  was  ready  to  write  the  truth  no  matter  which  way  it;;cut.  We  feel 
that  his  articles  are  as  nearly  impartial  as  it  is  humanly  possible  to 
obtain. 


■ 


©be  l&tar  Sixrk  j&>*raiijg  $<#f 


tez>-t<zz><^^w-z^^^ 


yA) 


1 

Contents 

The  "Vicious  Circle"      - 

6 

Effect  of  Pershing  Expedition  on 

Mexican  Internal  Politics    - 

8 

Ascendency  of  Civil  Power  Over 

,'  Irresponsible  Milif$ty  Chiefs    - 

10 

Exploitation  of  Mexico  by  the  For- 

eigner a  Thing  of  the  Past 

11 

Religious  Contention  a  Factor  in 

Mexico's  Social  Upheaval 

13           3| 

Mexico  Reborn       - 

15 

Graft — Pure  and  Simple 

16 

Armed  Intervention       -        -    •   - 

18 

Mexico's  Constituent  Assembly    - 

20 

Educational  Reform       -       - 

22 

Venustiano  Carranza — The  Man  - 

24 

Obregon  and  Gonzales  —  Their 

Personalities 

26, 

Defects  in  American  Policy    -     - 

28 

* 

I  (KZ>0(K=Z>00<C>0(K^^O<C^(KIZ>^  QUO)} 


zo 


»   V  Y  '  "  .'     •-     •  «  •        ''''-■        '•    '■'■■■■   *'"■' 


V 


) 


The  Truth  About  Mexico 


i.  ^ 

THE  "VICIOUS  CIRCLE" 


Just  How  Lack  of  Money  and  Economic  Troubles  Affect  the 
Crushing  of  Banditry  and  the  GuerrillaWarfare  of  Villa — 
Difficulties  With  Official  Reports — International  Commis- 
sion Viewed  Hopefully  in  Mexico. 


Mexico   City,  December,    191 6. 


[T  Is  a  far  cry  from  Washington  to 
Mexico  City — some  2,000  miles.  But 
.rains,  telegraph  wires,  mails,  all  the 
Utions  of  the  day,  do  not  conquer  the 
sal  distance.  -fTime — centuries  of^ 
separates  the  civilizations  of  two 
ipring  peoples,  is  it  any  wonder 
that  there  are  misunderstandings?)  The 
njrfe  thing  that  can  prevent  such  dif- 
ferences from  leading  to  wars  and  blood- 
ied is  a  tljnely  exercise  of  the  power  of 
"/i-rpref«*^|jj.  The  higher  duty  obviously 
belongs  to  the  nation  of  more  advanced 
>ili/.ation— -till*.  United  Suites. 
(Thero  are  human  beings  south  of  the 
Grande — SO!$jl- '  sixteen  millions  of 
They  are  of  a  race  that  has  dem- 
ted  in  other  parts  of  the  world  Its 
rapacity  for  s.  if  -government.  There  is 
no  good  reason  on  GocPs  earth  why  an- 
other iiyjentina   should  not  rise  at   the 


doors  of  the  United  States,  and  there  will 
be  such  a  country,  if  only  the  two  peo- 
ples can  be  brought  to  understand  each 
otherp^  It  ought  to  be  a  task  ot  the 
mind,  an  accommodation  of  view-points, 
not  an  obligation  of  the  hand — the  use 
of  forced  That  will  everywhere  be  ad- 
mitted as  a  proper  sentiment,  but  fs  it 
'  piactical?  Therein  is  the  doubt, 
fit  is  very  easy  to  shrug  one's  shoul- 
ders and  dismiss  the  Mexican  problem 
.With  the  phrase— intervention  eventual- 
ly, why  not  now?  \  It  is  easy  also  to. 
sympathize  so  excessively  with  the  de 
facto  Government  and  the  principles  of 
the  revolution  as  to  be  Wind  to  the 
abuses  inflicted  upon  foreigners  and  na-J 
tives  alike;  Jto  tha  graft,  the  dishonesty, 
the  fraud,  the  dirt,  the  disease,  the  ban- 
ditry, and  things  even  more  reprehensi- 
ble?) 


It  is  hardest  to  be  fair  about  the  whole 
business,  to  make  reasonable  allowances 
to  see  far  into  the  future  and  say 
what  really  ought  to  be  done  by  the 
United  States  to  help  Mexico  to  her  feet, 
or  what  ought  not  to  be  done  by  the 
United  States  because  it  might  prevent 
Mexico  from  getting  her  balance  once 
more. 

SEEING    IS   BELIEVING. 

/if  the  American  people,  or  any  disin- 
terested number  of  them,  could  be  trans- 
ported to  Mexico  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
study  and  observation,  not  through  the 
eyes  of  financially  interested  people,  but 
with  their  own  powers  of  scrutiny  and 
broad  judgment  alerUy  in  pHiuy  the  du- 
ty of  the  United  States  would  be  as  clear 
in  the  circumstances  as  it  Is  with  any 
problem  of  our  domestic  life  whereftr 
opinion  crystallizes  clearly  and  potenUy. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  more  observers 
do  not  come.  Seeing  is  believing.  Filled 
with  the  stories  of  starvation  on  every 
street-corner,  widespread  suffering  and 
military  chaos,  this  correspondent  went 
to  see  how  Mexico  differed  from  its  con- 
dition a  year  ago  when  the  de  facto  Gov- 
ernment was  recognized;  how  it  differed 
from  the  days  of  the  Madero  Adminis- 
tration when  he  saw  a  fairly  normal 
state  of  affairs.  Possessed  of  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  Spanish  tongue  gained  on 
several  previous  sojourns  in  Mexico,  as 
well  as  an  acquaintance  among  various 
classes  of  M^iicans^lind  foreigners,  fee 
travelled  Southward/to  find  the  ..acts,  to 
make  up  his  own  rhind  if  indeed  there 
is  a  hopeless  case  below  the  Rio  Grande, 
curable  only  by  physical  intervention, 
or  whether  after  all  the  thing  is  evolu- 
tionary and  needs  infinite  patience  while 
it  moves  forward.) 


0 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


-THE  soLrces  of  information. 
But  is  it  moving:  forward?     Tn  Mexico 
really    making    headway?    \The    average 
American    will    grit    his    teeth    and    put 
up  with,a  great  deal  if  he  can  only  see 
progress^  Much    of   my    time    in    Mex- 
ico   on   "this     occasion     was     spent    in 
searching  out  the  facts  of  the  past,  but 
during  the  very  period  of  observation  it 
was  possible  actually  to  witness  a  change 
for    the    better,    a    change    which    even 
members    of    the    disgruntled    American 
colony  admitted  was  an  improvement  on 
times  past,  on  a  year  ago,   for  instance. 
^  In  all  fairness  to  the  Americans  living 
in  Mexico,  to  the  members  of  our  Con- 
sular  service    and   diplomats,    it    can    be 
stated  that  they  are  not  fully   informed. 
That  is  only  natural.     Thfcy  have   other 
business  to  attend  to  than  continuously 
to  survey  the  political,  economic,   or  so- 
cial  conditions  of  the   country  in  which 
they  live.     The   American   is  busy   most 
of  the  day  with  his  own  profession,  his 
mines,    his    merchandise.      The    diplomat 
or  Consul  sits  in  his  office,  engrossed  in 
a  mass  of  routine,  and  listens  to  the  gos- 
sip of  the  travellers  who  happen  to  drop 
in  with  the  stories  they  have  heard.     If 
the   American    Embassy   in    Mexico   City 
were    instructed    to    verify    only    one    of 
a   dozen   stories   It   hears,    it   would   find 
Itself  confronted   by   an  almost  hopeless 
task. 

But  the  newspaper  men,  those  who  are 
making  a  bird's-eye  view  of  things  every 
day,  those  who  are  talking  with  the  Mexi- 
can  Government   officials   daily   and   yet 
are  in  contact  with   the  foreigners   and 
are  able  to  judge  of  the  merit  of  their 
•  complaints,    these    unofficial    but   trained 
observers  really  know  more  about  what 
is  going  on   in   Mexico   than   any   other 
class  of  folks.     The   resident  correspon- 
dents  without   a   single   exception,    good 
American  newspaper  men,  who  have  put 
up  with  a  lot  of  personal  inconvenience, 
too,  ftold  me  that  \  Mexico  had  improved, 
and  that  she  was  moving  ahead,  and  that 
if    the   United    States   and   Mexico    once 
composed  their   border  difficulties,   there 
would  not  bo  the   slightest  doubt  about 
the  future  of   Mexico,  for  while  all   her 
leaders  might  not  be  efficient,  enough  of 
them  were  capable,  enough  were  honest, 
slowly  to  conquer  the  graft  and  the  dis- 
honesty, and  to  establish  a  strong' Gov- 
ernment, though  it  might  take  a  year  and 
possibly  two — because  everything  moves' 
slowly  in   Mexico.  3  This   procrastination 
is   usually  the  American's   first  point  of 
misunderstanding.    He  mistakes  slow  mo- 
tion   for    reluctance,    self-sufficiency,    or 
unwillingness. 

And  are  these  newspaper  men  them- 
selves happy?  Are  things  any  bet- 
ter for  them  than  the  other  Americans 
in  business?  Not  at  all.  The  correspon- 
dents wait  hours  at  a  time  to  see  a  sub- 
ordinate Mexican  official.     They   put  up 


with  vexatious  whims  of  the  censor.  They 
work  at  all  hours  of  the  night.  They 
sift  out  lies  and  gossip.  They  run  the 
risks  of  disease,  of  being  targets  for  stray 
bullets  in  street  fights  and  brawls,  of  hav- 
ing their  pockets  picked,  of  being- blown 
up  in  trains,  but  they  sit  down  and  tell- 
you  in  all  fairness  that,  given  half  a 
chance,  the  Carranza  Government  .will 
puff  through;  but  the  facts  are  in  front 
of  you. 

TALKS    WITH    CARRANZA    AND    OTHER    LEADERS. 

Without  disclosing  the  purpose  of  my 
trip — to  form  a  conclusion  as  to  whether 
intervention  was  really  necessary  at  this 
time — I  had  the  opportunity  of  talking 
with  Gen.  Carranza,  then  Gens.  Obregon 
and  Gonzales,  several  Government  offi- 
cials whom  I  had  known  in  the  Madero 
revolution,  some  "Cientifico"  friends  who 
are  living  quietly  in  Mexico  City  and  are 
taking  no  part  in  politics;  with  diplomats, 
foreign  consuls,  American  business  men; 
in  fact,  with  people  of  every  point  of  view 
and  of  every  difference  of  opinion. 

One.  of  these  "cientincos,"  who  had 
every  reason  to  hate  the  de  facto  Gov- 
ernment, but  whom  I  had  known  years 
before  when  he  was  in  the  diplomatic 
service,  told  me  privately  that  the  Car- 
ranza. Government  had  done  much  bet- 
ter than  he  had  ever  dreamed  if  would, 
and  that  he  believed  they  would  succeed 
in  reestablishing  law  and  order  in  Mex- 
ico. Such  an  opinion,  considering  the 
source,  is  obviously  a  fair  one,  especial- 
ly since  the  man  who  gave  it  was  him- 
self imprisoned  on  suspicion  when  he  first 
returned  to  Mexico  City,  but  is  now  quiet- 
ly practicing  law,  free  from  harm,  yet  not 
at  all  In  sympathy  with  the  existing  Ad- 
ministration. 

MHXICO'S    TBOUBLE    ECONOMIC. 

f    To   form   a  judgment   of  Mexico   as  a 
I  whole  it  is  necessary  at  this  time  to  in- 
I  vestigate    Its    sociological    aspects,    what 
!  has  been  done  toward  educating  the  ig- 
/  norant  masses,  what  is  the  condition  of 
I   the  railways  and  freight  transportation, 
|   what  is  Mexico's  real  financial  condition, 
\   what  do   the   activities    of     bandits  and 
j   rebels  amount  to,  and  a  series  of  other 
\   subjects  that  will  be  described  in  subse- 
|  quent     articles.        Yet     in      twenty-four. 
•  hours  it  is  possible  for  any  one  to  come 
to   the   conclusion  that  ^Mexico's   troubles 
is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  economic.^* 
There  is  a  phrase  "CircuJo  vicioso."  used 
as  a  rule  in  connection  with  the  round- 
about   methods    of    Mexican    politicians, 
but  it  applies  exactly  to  the  present  sit- 
uation. It  begins  something  like  this: 

The  United  States  wants  Mexico  to 
protect  the  lives  and  properties  of  for- 
eigners. To  do  this;  military  discipline 
and  a  sufficient  army  are  necessary.  To 
have  an  army  requires  money,  because' 
troops  can  be  organized  well  only  if  they 


'are  paid.  Diaz  had  the  money.  Enough 
officers  would  abandon  grafting  if  they 
were  paid  any  decent  compensation  to 
handle  the  few  bandits  and  rebela  If 
the  peons  are  not  paid  by  the  Govern- 
jment,  they  will  join  Villa,  Felix  Diaz, 'or 
[any  other  factional  leader  who  happen* 
;to  come  along. 

<     But   American   bankers   say   they   can 

make  no  loan  until  Mexico  is  at  peace; 

'the  United  States  Government  says  the 

'de   facto   Government   cannot   have   am- 

.  munition  until  the  stability  of  the  latter 

is  established.     The  Mexican  authorities 

;  declare   this  to  be  the  "vicious  circle" — 

they  are  denied  the  very  elements  which 

it  is  necessary  for  them  to  have  in  order 

to  accomplish  the  tranquillization  of  their 

country. 

Again,  the  United  States  says,  "Crush 
out  banditry  in  Chihuahua  and  we  will 
withdraw  the  Pershing  expedition."  The 
Carranza  Government  feels  that  Villa  is 
augmenting  his  forces  by  appealing  to 
the  patriotism  of  the  people,  by  accusing 
the  de  facto  Government  of  standing  su- 
pinely by  while  foreign  troops  camp  on 
Mexican  soil;  that's  why  Mexico  can't 
understand  the  United  States. 


INTERNATIONAL  COMMISSION'S   BENEFICENT 
INFLUENCE. 

The  American-Mexican  Commission 
meeting  at  Atlantic  City  is  the  very  best 
thing  that  has  happened  in  the  relations 
of  the  two  countries.  I  fofmd  everywhere 
among  the  Mexicans  a  confidence  that 
the  work  of  the  Commission  eventually 
would  be  a  success.  It  is  incidentally  a 
check  on  the  anti:American  spirit.  It  is 
enabling  the  de  facto  Government  to  turn 
its  attention  to  interior  problems  without 
fear  of  a  foreign  war. 

Alberto  J.  Pan!,  who  came  here  to  re- 
port on  the  work  of  the  Commission,  has 
explained  the  American  viewpoint  elo- 
quently and  comprehensively  and  In  a 
language  that  the  Mexican  leaders  un- 
derstand. ^ 

The  international  problem  is"  not  ye* 
solved.  There  will  be  more  discussion, 
but  the  horizon  is  much  clearer  than  it 
has  been.  Gen.  Carranza  and  the  thought- 
ful men  about  him  know  and  appreciate 
what  help  or  harm  the  Unite!  states  can 
be  to  them,  and  they  want  to  reach  a 
friendly  basis  with  their  Northern  neigh- 
bor .CThe  desire  to^have  peace  exceeds  the 
wisn  of  a  minority  for  trouble  and  con- 
flict. What  more  powerful  slogan  for  Gen. 
Carranza  than  "he  has  kept  us  out  Of  war 
with  the  United  States".?/ 

PROGK  kss  is  t^JW^r 

V  Mexico  is  progressing  slowly.  Her  eco- 
nomic condition,  whH«  very  serious,  la 
better  to-day  than  It  was  a  month  ago 
or  a  year  ago.  \AU  the  paper  money  has 
been  driven  out  of  circulation,  and  metal- 

" 


lazo 


lie  money,  Mexican  gold  and  silver]] hith- 
erto hoarded,  "has  come  out.  Prices  remain 
high,  but  people  can  do  business,  because 
metallic   currency   has  a  definite    value; 
there  is  no  fluctuation. 
/American   money  is  accepted  in  many 
transactions  in  Mexico,  and  for  the  pres- 
ent there  seems  to  be  enough  to  meet  the 
circulation     needs.        It      is     a     curious 
phenomenon  that  the  American,  dollar  is 
•worth  less  than  Mexican  silver  or   gold. 
In  normal  times,  you  could  exchange  two 
1  Mexican    silver    pesos   for   one   American 
dollar.     Now  the  American  dollar  bill  or 
silver  dollar  is  worth  only  one  peso  and 
ninety   cents   in  Mexican   gold  or  silver. 
This  is  not  due  to  any  real  depreciation, 
but  to  the  working  of  the  law  of  supply 
and  demand.  Mexican  silver  and  gold  are 
much  scarcer  and,  of  course,  are  still  pre- 
ferred  by    most  merchants.     Eventually, 
when    the    American    dollar    is    accepted 
everywhere  or  when  there  is  an  issue  of 
PRper   money    based   on   an    actual    gold 
reserve,    the   old   ratio   of  two   paaoB   for 
an  American  dollar  will  obtain,    feut  the 
vital  fact  is  that  the  economic  situation 
•has    been    relieved,    that    business    men 
know    "where    they    are   at"   and   do   not 


E    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


have  to  calculate  their  prices  on  a  fluc- 
tuating paper  currency,  and  that  the 
troops  and  Government  employees  are 
being  paid  in  metallic  currency  and  new 
Government  bondsA  <" 

NATIONAL     CONVENTION     AT     WORK. 

Other  factors  have  brought  about  a 
noticeable  change  within  the  last  two 
weeks;  the  Constituent  Assembly  at 
Queretaro  has  organized  and  Is  revising 
the  Constitution.  The  general  elections 
will  be  held  in  February,  and  the  consti- 
tutional order  has  been  definitely  an- 
nounced to  begin  on  April  1,  when  Ve- 
nustiano  Carranwi  will  be  inaugurated 
President.  The  Courts  of  Justice  and 
Congress  will  be  formally  opened 
then.  The  executive,  legislative,  and 
judicial  branches  of  the  Government, 
hitherto  combined  under  the  office  of 
First  Chief  in  Charge  of  the  Executive 
Power,  will  go  into  operation  again  as  in 
the  constitutional  regime  of  Madero. 
which  was  interrupted  by  Huerta'r 
usurpation  and  illegal  overthrow  of  the 
Government.  The  sight  of  constitutional 
guarantees,  courts  of  process,  and  an  end 
of   arbitrary   decrees   only    three   months 


away,  already  has  had  a  good  moral  ef- 
fect as  have  the  protestations  of  the 
Guatemalan  Government  that  It  will  not 
permit  the  followers  of  Felix  Diaz  to 
make  of  Guatemalan  territory  a  base  of 
supply. 

ST0RIK8    OF    STARVATION    EXAGGERATED. 

There  is  no  starvation  of  any  ex-  . 
traordinary  character.  Some  isolated 
places  are  suffering— these  are  In  the 
Guanajuato  and  Zacatecas  districts,  but 
it  is  due  as  much  to  interruption  of  rail- 
road traffic  as  the  economic  conditions  of 
two  and  three  months  ago  and  failure 
to  plant  crops  on  account  of  military 
activities.  But  these  situations  are  being 
corrected.  On  the  whole,  making  duo 
allowance  for  many  disagreeable  things, 
conditions  are  much  better  than  they 
have  been  in  some  time  and  the  general 
trend  of  affairs  is  decidedly  for  the  bet- 
ter. ^This  does  not  mean  that  old  com- 
fortsSire  availably  that  Americans  and 
their  families  can  go  back  as  yet,  but 
simply  that  Mexico  is  working  out  her 
own  problem  In  her  own  way,  a  pain- 
fully slow  process,  but  not  by  any  means 
;>.    hopeless  one.) 


II. 


EFFECT  OF  PERSHING  EXPEDITION 

ON  MEXICAN  INTERNAL  POLITICS 


Carranza  Government  Accused  of  Permitting  Foreign  "In- 
vader" to  Occupy  Mexican  Territory— Villa  Appeals  to 
Patriotism  of  People  to  Get  Recruits— While  United 
States  Insists  on  Unlimited  Pursuit  It  Really  Desires  Effi- 
Pursuit. 


caci< 


Queretaro,  Mexy  December,    191 6. 


INTERNATIONAL    affairs    are    usually 
the  least  of  Mexican  worries — there  is 
so  m»Ch  to  he  done  at  home;   but  just 
now  Gent,  yenustiano  Carranza -is  busied 
with  litaaetee.     While  not  «amltttng  it 
as   a   rule,  most   Mexican   leaders   realize 


nowadays  that  in  a  friendly  understand- 
ing with  the  United  .States  lies  tni  key- 
to  success  for  the  dc  facto  Government. 

Alberto  J.  Pani,  who  came  here  from 
Atlantic  City  to  advise  the  First  Chief 
of  what  had  been   discussed  during  the 


eleven  weeks  of  meetings  held  by  tha 
Mexican-American  Commission,  has  had 
pretty  much  the  centre  of  the  stage;  but 
with  rare  discretion  he  has  managed  to 
keep  details  of  his  mission  a  confidential 
affair  between  himself,  the  First  Chief, 
and  the  head  of  the  Foreign  Office. 

And  as  he  started  back  to  the 
United  States,  neither  the  people  nor  tha 
press,  nor  even  the  officials  and  mili- 
tary men  knew  just  what  communication 
he  was  carrying.  Somehow  there  is  a  faith 
in  the  ability  of  the  First  Chief  to  handle 
the  whol«  business  in  a  manner  consis- 
tent with  Mexican  dignity  and  pride,  and 
nobody  becomes  over-curious  The  only 
word  passed  out  was  that  "things  ar« 
going  well  in  international  matters." 

One  thing,  however,  Is  clear.  No  one 
in  all  Mexico  could  have  presented  the 
American  point  of  view  better  than  has 
Mr.  Pani.  He  has  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  the  First  Chief  and  of  Mexi- 
can officials  generally,  and  it  was  easy 
to  see  by  the  effusive  greetings  he  re- 
ceived that  he  is  popular.,  Mr.  Pani 
himself  was  impressed  by  the  courtesy 
and    altruistic    spirit    of    the    American 


v\?X) 


wmimmamaa^tUBKUKUMKBttBKKSKBBBB^B^KtKXMS^BS^ 


HE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


9 


Commissioners,  ana  he  did  not  fail  to 
give  an  account  of  the  variety  of  subjects 
under  discussion,  clothing  his  verbal  and 
oral  reports  with  a  fine  tribute  to  the 
cordial  spirit  displayed  by  American  rep- 
resentatives.      ' 

It  was  too  much  to  expect  that  the 
protocols  "which  Mr.  Panl  carried  from 
Atlantic  City  would  be  signed  here  with- 
out further  discussion  by  the  Commis- 
sion. The  stumbling-block  is  a  vital  one, 
but  presents  no  insurmountable  difficulty. 

PERSHING  EXPEDITION  AS  VIEWED  BOTH  WAYS. 

The  United  States  is  willing  to  with- 
draw its  forces  within  forty  days,  pro- 
viding there  is  a  recognition  by  Mexico 
of  its  obligation  to  protect  the  frontier. 
But  the  United  States  announced  its  in- 
tention to  pursue  to  a  finish  the  bandits 
who  may  raid  American  territory.  The 
Mexicans  object  to-day,  as  they  al: 
ways  have  objected,  to  granting  the 
unlimited  rights  of  pursuit.  They 
claim,  as  they  have  argued  in  their 
notes  about  the  Pershing  expedition,  that 
the  presence  of  infantry,  cavalry,  and  ar- 
tillery alarms  the  populace,  making  them 
suspicious  that  the  real  purpose  is  not 
to  catch  a  few  bandits,  but  military  oc- 
cupation— the  much  dreaded  Interven- 
tion. 

On  its  part,  the  American  Government 
contends  that  to  put  qualifications  or  limi- 
tations on  the  right  of  pursuit  is  to  de- 
stroy the  efficacy  of  such  pursuit,  just  as 
happened  when  the  progress  of  the  Per- 
shing expedition  was  retarded  by  failure 
to  permit  the  free  use  of  railroads  or 
Mexican  towns  as  bases  of  supply.  Nor 
does  the  American  Government  want  to 
give  Mexico  the  reciprocal  right  of  pur- 
suit, though  this  right  is  likely  never  to 
be  ucsd,  because  Mexican  troops  will  not 
have  occasion  to  repel  raids  started  from 
American  territory. .  Yet,  for  the  sake  of 
the  national  dignity,  it  is  desired  by  the 
de  facto  Government, 

CONCESSIONS    MEXICO   WILL   MAKE. 

The  Mexican  Government  realizes  that 
limitations  on   pursuit   might  retard   the 
pursuers   and   enable   the  bandits   to   es- 
cape, and  is  willing  to  make  several  con- 
cessions.    For  example,  it  will  permit  the 
Immediate  entry  of  American  forces,  pro- 
vided there  is  prompt  notification  to  the 
Mexican    commander    of   the   district   af- 
j    fected,  limitation  of  size  of  the  expedition, 
}■  and  agreement  that  the  forces   shall   be^ 
;    withdrawn  as  soon  as  sufficient  Govern- 
1     ment  troops  are  brought  into  the  vicinity 
of  the  bandit  operations  to  take  up   the 
pursuit.    Indeed,  the  Mexicans  would  not 
object  to  the  continued  presence  of  the 
American  forces  and  their  cooperation  on 
Mexican    soil    with    the    Mexican    troops, 
but  the  command  of  such  allied  columns 
is  naturally  wanted  by  the  Mexican  au- 
thorities.      To      do      otherwise,      Mexico 


argues,  would  be  to  yield  sacred  rights  of 
sovereignty. 

The  American  Commissioners  insisted 
on  the  right  of  unlimited  pursuit,  but 
the,  Mexicans  refused.  It  was  decided  to 
omit  from  the  protocols  themselves  the 
whole  business,  each  Government  agree- 
ing to  protect  its  own  frontier.  But  a 
public  statement  was  made  by  the  United 
States  threatening  to  send,  in  the  event 
of  a  raid  like  that  at  otolumbus, 
another  punitive  expedition,  of  what- 
ever size  it  chose,  to  go  whatever 
distance  it  thought  necessary  to  pursue 
the  bandits  to  a  finish.  But  this  could 
lead  to  war,  since  the  Mexicans  again 
would  resent  a  long-distance  pursuit,  be- 
cause the  bandits  who  may  have  sought 
to  provoke  intervention  by  attacking 
American  towns  would  not  be  averse  to 
drawing  the  American  forces  ail  the  way 
to  Mexico  City,  in  *he  hope  of  entangling 
them  with  the  constituted  Government 
or  the  populace,  and  thus  precipitating 
a  general  conflict. 

/Such  a  threat  or  unlimited  pursuit 
might  have  a  deterrent  effect  on  bandits 
and  cause  the  de  facto  Government  scru- 
pulously to  guard  its  frontier,  but,  just 
the  same,  the  relations  between  the  two 
countries  would  not  be  benefited,  for  a 
club  would  be  held  over  the  heads  of  the 
Mexican  Government  which  would  make 
everybody,  including  American  bankers, 
and  even  foreign  residents  in  Mexico,  in- 
clined to  discount  the  moral  support  by 
the  United  States  of  the  de  facto  Govern- 
ment, and  keep  the  international  status 
of  things  continuously  hanging  by  a  hair. 
Americans  might  not  be  willing  to  re- 
turn to  their  accustomed  occupations  In 
Mexico.  Any  moment  they  might  be 
ordered  out,  because  of  the  dangers  to 
them  involved  in  dispatching  a  punitive 
expedition  across  the  border  that  might 
be  combated  by  the  Government  forces. 

A   COMPROMISE  PLAN. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  United 
States  would  be  doing  more  to  help  Mex- 
ico by  agreeing  to  some  limitation  of  the 
right  <»f  pursuit,  but  at  the  same  time 
insisting  that  the  effectiveness  of  such 
pursuit  must  not  be  impeded,  lest  tha 
United  States  hold  itself  at  liberty  to  dis- 
regard the  limitations  in  cases  arising 
subsequent  to  the  one  in  wnieh  the  in- 
efticacy  of  pursuit  will  have  been  demon- 
strated. Some  such  compromise  seems 
reasonable  and  fair.  The  important  point 
involved,  however,  in  the  previous  expe- 
rience of  the  United  States  with  the  mili- 
tary forces  of  the  de  facto  Government 
sent  to  northern  Mexico  to  lake  control 
of  the  territory  evacuated  by  the  Per- 
shing expedition  has  been  the  alleged  re- 
luctance, indifference,  or  incapacity  of  the 
Car  ran  za  forces.         , 

If  the  Carranza  officers  have  not  bean 
vigilant  in  their  pursuit  of  Villa  (and  If 


this  is  conclusively  proved  to  the  Ameri- 
can army  observers),  then  the  Mexican 
Government  should  be  advised  of  their 
delinquency,  and  the  information  used  as 
a  basis  for  action. 

Carranza,  it  must  be  remembered,  has 
not  yet  got  a  competent  military  ma- 
chine. He  had  put  faith  In' Gen.  Jacinto 
Trevino — a  Chapultepec  graduate— but  , 
the  latter  has  proved  a  failure.  Gen. 
Murgia  is  now  being  tried  out,  and  his 
defeat  of  Villa  in  Chihuahua  City  has  en- 
couraged the  First  Chief  to  believe  that 
at  last  he  has  secured  some  one  who  will 
run  Vina  down.  Should  Murgia  f«^. 
Gen.  Alvaro  Obregon,  the  Minister  of 
War,  will  leave  his  official  duties  at  Mex- 
ico City  and  take  the  field  himself. 

THINGS   MOVE  SLOWLY  IN    MEXICO. 

Things  move  slowly  in  Mexico.  It  takes 
time  for  the  Mexican  Government  to 
weed  out  Its  own  incompetent  menu  If  * 
the  United  States  can  only  be  assured  of 
the  good  faith,  sincerity,  and  earnest  dis- 
position of  Gen.  Carranza  and  his  Gov- 
ernment to  do  all  that  they  humanly  can 
to  stamp  out  banditry,  forgiveness  of 
mistakes  would  not  be  withheld.  Such  a 
pressure  ought  constantly  to  be  exerted  by 
friends  of  the  First  Chief.  ('Gen.  Carranza  » 
is  a  fair-minded  individual  and  lately  Is 
reported  to  have  shown  a  much  more 
friendly  disposition  toward  the  United 
States  and  Americans  generally — a  will- 
ingness to  go  half-way.  j 

If  there  were  only  more  concrete  evi- 
dence of  his  friendliness  all  would  be 
well,  but  obviously  he  cannot  do  much 
while  American  troops  are  camping  on 
Mexican  soil,  any  more  than  an  Ameri- 
can President  would  dare  to  be  over- 
friendly  with  the  respective  Emperors  of 
Japan  and  Germany  if  the  troops  of  either 
were  bivouacked  in  Texas  or  California. 

The  most  friendly  thing  the  United 
States  could  do  to-day  to  win  the  friend- 
ship and  confidence  of  the  Mexicans 
would  be  to  withdraw  the  Pershing  ex- 
pedition voluntarily  and  announce  its 
intention  of  giving  its  whole-hearted  mo^ 
ral  support  to  the  de  facto  Government* 
exchange  would  rise  in  Mexico,  foreign- 
ers would  have  confidence  that  there  was 
to  be  international  comity,  and  a  con- 
sequent improvement  in  economic  condi- 
tions wtiuld  soon  be  apparent.  Such  an 
improvement  would  mean  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Mexico  would  be  able  to  raise 
the  funds  wherewith  to  pay  its  troops 
and  organize  an  efficient  patrolling  forte 
to  prevent  border  raids  and  glva  lifte  nec- 
essary protection  within  Mexico  to  the 
lives  and  properties  of  Americans  <atid 
foreigners.  It's  agaim  the  famous  "vl-  < 
cious  circle"— but  the  circle  must  be 
broken  by  the  United  States  with  just 
such  acts  of  friendship,  or  our  altruistic 
words  will  be,  as  always,  misconstrued 
and  suspected. 


pizo 


10 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


III. 


ASCENDENCY  OF  CIVIL  POWER  OVER 

IRRESPONSIBLE  MILITARY  CHIEFS 


Constitutionalist  Administration  Supported  by  Military  Men- 
Difference  Between  Carranza  and  Madero— Dealing  with 
Marauding  Bandits  and  Train-wreckers— Railroad  Con- 
ditions. 

_i_ — , 

•   Mexico   City,  December,   1910. 


POLITICAL  intrigue,  which  is(  as 
plentiful  in  Mexico  as  the  green  Ca<v 
tus,  and  often  just  as  thorny  an  im- 
pediment to  progress,  has  not  abated  a  bit 
under  the  revolutionary  era;  but  now- 
adays it  is  directed,  not  against  the 
constituted  Government,  but  looks  dis- 
tantly to  the  elections  of  1920,  when 
Venustiano  Carranza's  term  as  President 
is  due  to  expire. 

The  election  of  Mr.  Carranza  in  Feb- 
ruary and  his  inauguration  in  April  are 
foregone  conclusions.  There  is  no  armed 
opposition  in  sight  which  is  of  sufficient^ 
strength  to  overthrow  Carranza,  and 
within  his  own  party  there  is  none  whQ 
would  essay  such  a  task.  ?  Mexico  to-day 
is  better  off,  politically  speaking,  than  it 
has  been  in  some  time.  Venustiano  Car-  ^ 
ranza  started  the  revolution  against 
Hucrta.  He  has  held  his  forces  Intact 
throughout  It  all;  he  has  been  recognized 
||b  Chief  Executive  of  the  de  facto  Gov- 
ernment. 

3?he  men  of  Carranza's  party  are  in 
complete  control  of  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly which  is  framing  a  new  Constitu- 
tion for  Mexico  at  Queretaro,  and  alto- 
gether his  right  to  the  Presidency  is 
questioned  neither  on  legal  nor  on  moral  > 
grounds.   % 

The  very  feet  that  all  the  mililary  men 
are  giving  thj^r  political  support  to  Gen. 
Carranza  had  stabilized  conditions  very 
much.  But  everybody  realizes  that  in 
the  hands  of  these  same  military  men 
(*ests  the  fate  of  the  present  Administra- 
jtion.  A  triumvirate,  therefore,  rules 
Mexico  —  Venustiano  Carranza,  Alvaro 
Obregon,  and  Pablo  Gonzales.  The  last 
two  command  the  two  largest  divisions 
of  the\»*rniy.  At  present  both  men  are 
in  Mexico  City,  a  year  ago  one  heard 
a  good' Heal  of  talk  to  the  effect  that  any 


day  Gen.  Obregon  might  break  with  Car- 
ranza The  same  gossip  is  to  be  had 
for  the  asking,  but  not  so  many  people 
believe  it  any  more.  No  one  who  has 
talked  with  Gen.  Obregon  five  minutes 
would  believe  it.  To  be  sure,  there  is 
more  plausibility  to  the  story  of  jealousy 
between  Obregon  and  Gonzales,  but  these 
proceed  from  the  sycophants  and  staffs 
of  the  two  men  rather  than  from  them- 
selves. 

BOTH   OBRIXJON   AND  U0NZAL.E8   ARB  PATRIOTS. 

Both  are  capable,  patriotic  Mexicans 
and  far  too  shrewd  to  disrupt  the  pres- 
ent Government  and  start  the  revolution- 
ary business  all  over  again.  Mr.  Carranza 
has  benefited  by  such  rivalry  as  has  ex- 
isted between  Obregon  and  Gonzales.  At 
all  cents,  both  are  united  behind  the 
First  Chief,  and  they  talk  of  his  election 
as  an  assured  fact — as  if  it  had  already- 
happened.  Both  Gonzales  and  Obregon 
may  be  candidates  for  the  Presidency  in 
1920.  Each  will  set  out  to  make  a  rec- 
ord \tnder  Carranza.  Obregon  is  now 
Minister  of  War;  he  will  probably  remain 
there,  for  he  is  an  unusually  successful 
military  man.  Gonzales-  is  a  born  ad- 
ministrator. He,  too,  will  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  show  his  worth.  He  is  per- 
haps the  most  popular  of  all  the  Consti- 
tutionalist generals,  so  far  as  Mexico  City 
is  concerned.  Foreigners  generally  say 
he  is  eminently  fair  and  capable,  and  wish 
for  his  return  to  direct  charge  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Federal  districts. 

But  the  interesting  thing  is  that,  while 
ambitious,  these  men  are  doing  nothing 
to  impede  the  progress  of  the  de  facto 
Government  or  the  political  future  prog- 
ress of  Don  Venustiano.  The  Constitu- 
tion provides  for  a  four-year  term  and  no 
reelection.  Both  Gonzales  and  Obregon 
are  under  forty,  and  therefore  can  wait 


until   1920.     Other    candidates   froi 
civil   ranks  are   likely   to   appear   in   the 
interim.       Which     is     the     way     politics 

rould  be  in  a  democracy. 
Provided  Carranza  hews  to  the  line, 
ovided  he  makes  no  compromises  with 
the  foreigners,  provided  he  follows  close- 
ly  the  principles  of  the  revolution,  there- 
fore, he  can  be  counted  upon  to  have 
clear  .sailing  so  far  as  internal  politics 
is  concerned1!)  There  is  no  danger  that 
he  will  depart  from  his  intense  nation- 
alism. It  has  been  his  creed  from  the 
start. 

DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN   CARRANZA   AND  MADERO. 

/^The  difference  between  Madero  and 
Carranza — for  tfte  comparison  must  be 
made  in  order  to  forecast  whether  the 
Liberal  movement  will  succeed  this  time 
— is  the  difference  between  an  idealist 
without  administrative  ability  and  a  prac- 
tical man  with  radical  principles,  a  poli- 
tician of  yore,  and  a  capable  executive) 

Madero,  who  came  into  power  after  a 
very  brief  revolution,  with  the  physical 
and  economic  condition  of  Mexico  hardly 
changed  from  the  time  of  Diaz,  lasted 
a  year  and  four  months.  During  his  Ad- 
ministration his  forces  made  little  prog- 
ress against  Zapata  in  the  South,  and 
were  constantly  righting  Orozco  in  the 
North.  The  Carranza  party  has  already 
held  itself  together  longer  than  that;  in 
fact,  it  is  now  a  year  and  a  month  since 
the  Carranza  Administration  was  recog- 
nized by  the  nrincipal  nations  of  the 
world.  And  Carranza's  battle  has  been 
to  bring  order  out  of  anarchy,  to  keep 
intact  military  men  of  all  classes  and 
descriptions,  many  of  them  dishonest, 
many  of  them  so  anti-foreign  as  tox 
threaten  international  complications,  and 
a  great  many  financially  dishonest,  plain 
grafters. 

CARRANZA    UNDERSTANDS    HIS    DIFFlfcULTIBS. 

Does  General  Carranza  know  the  weak 
spots  in  his  own  party?  Better  than 
any  man  in  it.  But  he  is  skilful  and 
diplomatic.  When  a  general  is  "acting 
up"  and  he  cannot  be  handled  by  tele- 
graph without  fear  that  he  will  sud- 
denly take  up  his  forces  and  go  off  on 
the  war  path,  Mr.  Carranza  invariably 
sends  for  him,  brings  him  to  the  capital 
"for  conference."  Away  from  his  men, 
an  obstreperous  chief  is  not  able  to  do 
much  mischief,  and  Mr.  Carranza  has 
usually  foind  a  way  of  placing  such  men 
where  they  are  either  under  the  eye 
of  another  general  or  busily  occupied 
fighting  Zapatistas  or  Villistas,  instead  of 
loaf>ng,   which   breeds   most   abuse. 

/This  may  sound  like  craven  tactics,  but 
ic-4«  the  better  part  of  wisdom  in  Mexico. 
The  Constitutionalist  army  is  really  a 
variation  of  the  old  feudal  system.  The 
men  fight  for  their  majors,  their  colonels, 
or  their  generals.     They  don't,   the  ma- 


yizo 


Jority   of   them,   fight  for  any   principle. 
Many  of  the  leaders  do,  and  thatfs  why 
a  revolutionary  army  Is  such  an  incon- 
gruous affair//But  it  is  a  necessary  in-  • 
strument,  ana  the  hardest  task  is  to  dis- 
band it  when  it  Is  once  organized.     Car- 
ranza knew  from  the  start  that  he  had 
to  depend  on  the  military  men.    Little  by 
little  grew  his   own   strength,    the    civil 
power.     It  will  reach  its  maximum  point 
with    his    inauguration    as    President    In 
April.     As   his   power   has   increased   he 
has    slowly   gained   the   ascendency   over 
the  generals,  and  he  is  much  bolder  and 
far    more    radical    with    them,    and    they 
obey   his   orders  more   diligently    to-day 
than   a  year  ago.     Bo  not  suppose  that 
this    means    perfect    discipline,    or    that 
Mexico  isn't  infested  by  bands  or  groups 
of   rebels.     Scarcely   a  state   that   hasn't 
*X    Its  marauders,   but  the  surprising   thing 
is  that  there  are  so  few  trains  blown  uj>, 
instead  of  so  many,  as  the   American  is 
likely  to  think,  from  reading  the  reports 
of  these  "accidents."     But  it  takes  only 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 

a  half-dozen  men  to  wreck  a  train  and 
run  away.  It  requires  tens  of  thousands 
to  patrol  the  railroad  lines  that  run 
through  wild  stretches  of  mountain  and 
the  wasted  plains  of  desert  land. 

One  good  thing  the  Government  is  do- 
ing now  is  its  sending  of  troops  to  points 
on  the  line  where  it  suspects  disaffection. 
Hitherto  the  Government  has  waited,  as 
a  rule,  Until  a  train  was  wrecked  before 
regarding  the  bandits  seriously.  The  new 
and  cautious  method  saves  rolling  stock 
as  well  as  human  lives. 

TBLKQRAPH    COMMUNICATION    IMPROVING. 

Telegraph  communication  is  pretty 
good,  and  is  constantly  improving.  The 
main  lines  have  been  restored.  Trains 
arc  running  regularly  to  Mexico  City  from 
all  border  points,  with  the  exception  of 
Juarez.  In  the  interior  traffic  is  fairly 
good  to  Guadalajara,  Aguascalientes, 
Vera  Cruz,  and  all  the  larger  cities.  In  u 
year  the  Constitutionalists  have  done  re- 


11 

markably  well  in  restoring  railroad  com- 
munication. Between  San  Luis  Potosi  and 
Tampico  the  Cedilla  brothers  are  on  the 
rampage,  and  trains  run  Irregularly.  Be- 
tween Vera  Cruz  and  Mexico  City  only 
daylight  service  obtains,  with  not  as 
much  risk  as  a  month  ago,  but  still  with 
a  great  deal  of  uncertainty,  for  freight 
especially. 

Yet  the  encouraging  thing  Is  that  the 
de  facto  Government  is  fighting  these 
mosquito  enemies  as  well  as  it  can.  r  And 
as  soon  as  the  mines  are  reopened  and 
there  is  more  work  for  the  unemployed 
much  of  the  banditry  will  disappear^  The 
Government  is  doing  all  that  most  fair- 
minded  people-  in  Mexico  think  it  can  do 
with  its  limited  funds;  but  so  long  as  ths 
direction  of  things  is  forward,  and  not 
backward,  foreigners  and  natives  alike 
are  hopeful.  Patience  and  hope  are  Mex- 
ico's greatest  staples,  which  is  why  the 
whole  thing  hasn't  collapsed  ere  this,  and 
why  there  is  a  mighty  good  chance  that 
It   won't. 


IV. 


EXPLOITATION  OF  MEXICO  BY  THE 

FOREIGNER  A  THING  OF  THE  PAST 


Anti-Foreign  Attitude  of  To-day  a  Natural  Outgrowth  of  Diaz 
Waste  of  Resources— Carranza  Government  Quietly 
Adopting  Foreigners'  Methods,  However— Administra- 
tive Changes  and  New  Cabinet  Departments. 


Mexico  City,  December,  191 6. 


MSXICO,  for  patriotic  reasons,  just  now 
is  anti-foreign,  fanatically  so.  The 
Diaz  regime  catered  to  the  foreigners 
and  their  wealth,  squandering  the  resources 
of  the  country  among  Americans,  English, 
Germans,  etc.  (Indeed,  Mexicounder  the 
Diaz  Administration  was  cTffFstened  "the 
,  iovTnT"m°ther   oi  the  foreign*  and   the 


brutal  stepmother  of  the  Mexicans."  This 
state  of  affairs' was*  one  of  the  causes  of 
the  revolution,  begun  by  Madero  in  1910 
and  c^£inii"d  successfully  by  Carranza, 
and  now  one  of  the  inevitable  effects  is 
a  natural  reaction  against  all  foreigners, 
a  political  clamor  that  foreigners  shall 
not  possess  more  privileges  than  nationals. 


Such  an  intense  nationalism  has  devel- 
oped that  all  things  foreign  are  held  at 
a  distance,  and  some  time  will  elapse  be- 
fore it  will  be  possible  openly  to  encour- 
age the  development  of  Mexico's  resources 
by  foreign  capital — a  necessary  itep  in 
her  internal  progress  as~  will  eventually 
he  discovered,  if  it  is  not  already  known, 
by  the  thoughtful  Mexican  leaders  them- 
selves. VBut  "Mexico  for  Mexicans"  is  the 
slogan  to-day,  and  it  always  is  a  popular 
shibboleth  in  revolutionary  days,  as  a 
bait-century  of  Mexican  history  proves.- 
I  tail  way's,  for  example,  used  to  be  or1  i;ited  • 
by  Americans,  Englishmen,  or  otlier  for-^ 
eigners.  On  the  National  Lines  to-day  yo*v 
see  only  Mexican  engineers,  Mexican  tin- 
men, Mexican  conductors,  and  Mexican 
porters.  All  parts  of  the  organization, 
division  superintendents,  dispatchers,  and 
clerks,  are  Mexican,  as  it  is  with  all  other 
branches  of  the  governmental  service  to- 
day. 

Yet,  while  the  Mexican  leaders  arc  not 
saying  much  about  it.  they-sj»  auietly 
looking  about  the  world  to  incorporate 
in  their  governmental  system  the  very 
best  things  that  the  foreigner  has  mould- 
ed. ItSs  too  early  to  employ  foreign  ex- 
perts—that would  be  resented  by  the 
radicals  and  a  political  Issue  made  of  it-^; 


IZU 


12 


but  in  the  next  few  years  you  will  See 
a  number  of  Mexican  cothrriisslons  going 
abroad  to  study  educational  and  techni- 
cal questions,  to  bring  back  the  benefit 
of  foreign  Governments'  experience  in 
commercial   and   industrial    problems. 

Indeed.  Gen.  Venustiano  Carranza  is 
planning,  together  with  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  which  is  revising  the  Constitu- 
tion at  Queretaro,  an  administrative  re- 
form of  far-reaching  importance  to  Mex- 
ico. The  executive  branch  of  the  Gov- 
ernment will  be  reorganized  with  an  eye 
to  a  distinct  separation  of  the  executive 
departments  from  dangerous  political  in- 
fluences. 


s 


TO    AB0U8H    VICE-PRE8IDENCT. 


In  the  first  place,  the  Vice-Presidency 
will  be  abolished.  Why?  Simply  because 
it  is  a  constant  source  of  danger.  The 
Vice-President  has  been  next  in  line  of 
succession  to  the  President  in  event  of 
death.  His  ambitions  might  lead  him  to 
intrigue  or  so  to  prejudice  the  status  of 
the  President  politically  as  to  encourage 
assassination  or  other  means  of  depos- 
ing him.  This  has  happened  before.  So  it 
has  been  with  other  Cabinet  Ministers, 
from  the  post  of  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  down.  Realizing  that  the  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs  has  been  sec- 
ond in  succession  (or  even  first,  if  the 
Vice-Presidency  happened  to  be  vacant), 
the*  portfolio  has  been  too  often  filled  to 
meet  internal  political  expediency,  rather 
than  the  needs  of  the  office.  Consequent- 
ly Mexico's  foreign  Ministers  with  few 
exceptions  have  rarely  been  diplomats. 
The  temptation  is  to  name  one's  successor 
by  making  him  first  Minister  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  thus  perpetuating  a  system  and 
denying  the  people  their  right  to  choose 
their  own  President 

AH  this  is  now  to  be  change.l,  and  by 
the  simple  and  democratic  process  of 
having  the  people  through  the  Congress 
choose  a  successor  to  the  President,  no 
Hbatter  how  the  vacancy  occurs,  by  death, 
ttHignation,  or  physical  disability.  The 
Congress  must  choose  the  President.  It 
is  much  better  than  our  own  system  In 
the  Unit»'<t  States,  when  a  chance,  may 
remove  an  i  fncient  President  and  leave 
>>untiy  in  the  hands  of  a  man  who 
never -was  int<  i.  .  I  by  the  people  to  be 
their  CttWf°  Executive.  They  have  no 
other  rerriedgf. 

Gen.  CaFransa  thinks,  too,  that  by 
keeping  his  Cabinet  Ministers  out  of  the 
line  of  succesarteik  he  can  appoint  a  Min- 
ister for  Foreigi  Affairs  who  is  really 
i  fit  for  the  place,  someone  who  knows 
Img&iething  about  diplomacy  and  interna- 
tional affairs.'  One  more  change  is  need- 
ed to  safeguard  the  new  system.  Mem- 
bers of  the  Cabinet  ought  to  be  ineligible 
for  selection  by  the  Congress  to  succeed 
to  tttf;  president  v.  ThJ*  would  put  a 
check*0&  intrigues  with  Congress.     It  is 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 

being  discussed  and  may  be  adopted, 
though  the  objection  has  been  raised  that 
too  few  men  of  executive  experience  will 
then  be  available  for  choice. 

NATIONAL    UNIVERSITY    TO    BE    JORMED. 

There  are  to  be  several  ether  changes 
in  the  organization  of  the  executive  pow- 
er. Besides  suppressing  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency, the  incumbent  of  which  office 
could  hitherto  take  over  any  Cabinet 
portfolio  he  desired,  the  Department  of 
Public  Instruction  and  the  Ministry  of 
Justice  will  be  abolished.  In  order  to 
take  the  question  of  education  out  of 
politics,  a  commissionership  of  education 
will  be  created  to  cooperate  with  the 
State  Governments  in  promoting  educa- 
tion. A  national  university  or  council 
will  be  formed,  composed  to  some  ex- 
tent of  foreigners,  which  will  make  the 
question  of  education  an  unofficial  and 
less  public  affair.  This  will  permit  of 
aid  from  foreign  institutions  of  learn- 
ing. 

Similarly,  in  order  to  correct  abuses 
which  have  arisen  in  connection  with 
the  Ministry  of  Justice,  a  department  that 
had  administrative  charge  of  th*  courts 
and  too  often  has  influenced  them,  the 
portfolio  will  be  done  away  with  entirely. 
In  its  place  there  will  be  an  Attorney- 
General,  but  he  will  not  be  a  member 
of  the  Cabinet.  He  will  be  merely  a  gen- 
eral counsel  for  the  Government,  and  will 
not  have  any  more  influence  before  the 
courts  than  other  attorney*  The  pur- 
pose of  the  move  is  to  make  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  by  the  courts  abso- 
lutely independent  of  politics,  a  judiciary 
in  strength  coordinate  with  the  legisla- 
tive and  executive  branches  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  method  of*  selecting  a  President 
by  the  Congress  has  worked  successfully 
in  Peru  and  other  Latin- American  coun- 
tries, though  to  be  sure  in  some  of  the 
Latin  republics,  as  Chili,  for  example,  the 
French  system  of  making  the  Cabinet 
responsible  to  the  Congress  and  depen- 
dent on  its  votes  of  confidence  is  in  op- 
eration. There  has  been  serious  discus- 
sion here  of  a  parliamentary  form  of 
government  for  Mexico,  much  along  the 
lines  of  the  French  plan,  but  Gen.  Car- 
ranza in  his  address  to  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  pointed  out  several  objections 
to  it,  proposing  instead  the  Presidential 
system  in  vogue  in  the  United  States 
with  the  right  of  the  people  to  vote  di- 
rectly for  President  of  Mexico  Instead  of 
indirectly  through  electors. 

WHEN    CARRANZA   IS    PRKSIDKNT. 

Mexico  has  had  many  provisional  Cab- 
inets in  the  last  few  years,  and  Ameri- 
cans who  have  come  in  contact  even  with 
some  of  the  members  of  the  First  Chief's 
Cabinet  to-day  are  not  impressed  with 
the  calibre  of  Mr.  Carranea'e1  aids.    But 


a  revolutionary  government  is  a  different 
thing  from  a  constitutional  government, 
just  as  are  a  de  facto  administration  and 
a  de  jure  administration  in' the  laws  of 
■nations.  Mexico  will  have,  beginning 
about  April  1,  a  de  jure  government,  be- 
cause by  then  Venustiano  Carranza  and 
a  Congress  of  Deputies  and  Senators  will 
have  been  elected.  When  Mr.  Carranza 
is  President,  and  not  First  Chief,  he  will 
have  more  real  authority,  he  will  not  be 
so  dependent  on  the  revolutionary  fac- 
tions or  parties  or  the  military  groups, 
but  will  be  free  to  select  a  Cabinet  fofr  its 
administrative  ability  rather  than  its 
political  strength. 

Already,  Mr.  Carranza  has  in  mind  a 
man  for  the  portfolio  of  Foreign  Affairs 
who  has  had  some  experience  in  Europe 
as  a  Mexican  diplomat.  A  change  in 
the  Ministry  of  Finance  also  would  not 
be  surprising,  especially  if  the  right  kind 
of  man  with  banking  experience,  and  a 
head  for  finance,  who  at  the  same  time 
is  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  revolution,  can  be  found. 
The  truth  is  that  most  of  the  financiers 
and  bankers  have  been  "cientiflcos,"  and 
the  material  from  which  to  select  a  Min- 
ister of  Finance  is  not  all  that  could  be 
desired  or  that  Mexico  is  really  capable 
of  producing.  It  is  too  soon  after  the 
close  of  the  revolution  to  appoint  a  Min- 
ister of  Finance  who  hasn't  participated 
politically  in  the  revolution,  even  though 
he  may  not  have  been  active  on  the  oth- 
er side.  But  within  a  year  or  two  it  te 
not  unlikely  that  Mr.  Carranza  will  be 
compelled  after  all  to  choose  a  non-po- 
litical person  to  handle  the  huge  question 
of  finance. 

NEW   DEPARTMENT   OF   COMMERCE. 

The  Department  of  Communicatione 
and  Public  Works  undoubtedly  will  be 
headed  by  Ignacio  Bonillas,  at  present  « 
member  of  the  Mexican-American  Com. 
mission.  He  is  an  engineer  of  experience, 
and  already  has  initiated  some  important 
construction  work  in  harbors  and  public 
buildings.  At  present  the  management 
of  the  railways  and  the  telegrajm  and 
mails  is  in  charge  of  two  general  di- 
rectors, who  report  directly  to  the  First 
Chief.  These  two  directors  will  be  kept 
hereafter  entirely  independent  of  the  De- 
partment of  Communications,  or  any 
other  Department  in  the  Government,  be- 
ing responsible  only  to  the  Executive. 

The  Department  of  Fomento  (colo- 
nization and  development  of  resources) 
will  continue  as  before,  but  it  will  no 
longer  have  charge  of  industrial  affairs 
or  interstate  commerce.  This  is  now  to 
be  supervised  by  a  new  Cabinet  officer, 
who  will  be  known  as  the  Minister  of 
Commerce  and  Industry.  This  Depart- 
ment will  be  copied  closely  after  the 
\  Departments  of  Commerce  and  Labor  in 
the  United  States,  and  an  effort  will  be 


1Z0 


TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


■■■■■■1 1 


made  through  it  to  solve  Mexico'*  In- 
creasing number  of  strikes  and  labor 
troubles,  as  well  as  the  business  of  the 
Federal  Government,  with  mines,  foreign 
concessions,  and  the  enterprises  of  for- 
eigners generally.  The  head  of  the  new 
Department  will  try  to  conserve  Mex- 
ico's equities  and  at  the  same  time  try 
to  encourage  the  country's  development 
by  foreign  capital  in  legitimate  ways. 
There  will  also  be  a  Federal  Bureau  of 
Health  and   Sanitation,   which   is  a  new 


thing  for  Mexico.  The  Department  of 
War  will  continue  as  before,  as  will  the 
portfolio  of  Qobernacion  (or  interior  ad- 
ministration), the  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  state  government  and  the  fed- 
eral authority.  This  makes  a  total  of 
seven  Cabinet  positions  instead  of  eight, 
as  heretofore. 

From  this  brief  outline,  it  will  be  seen 
that  while  the  outcry  against  the  for- 
eigner has  many  political  aspects  of  an 
internal  character,  it  is  bound  to  be  short- 


lived. And  as.  soon  as  the  Mexican  Gov- 
ernment assures  itself  that  the  immense 
resources  of  the  country  are  not  to  b« 
gobbled  up  through  false  titles  and  spe-: 
cial  privileges,  the  foreigner  will  be  wel- 
comed. The  radicalism  of  to-day  will 
inevitably  give  way  to  a  more  equitable 
and  conservative  attitude  towards  for- 
eigners, but  there  never  wiill  be  such  ex- 
ploitation by  foreigners  as  that  for  which 
the  Diaz  system  was  responsible)* 


. 


V. 

RELIGIOUS  CONTENTION  A  FACTOR 

IN  MEXICO'S  SOCIAL  UPHEAVAL 


Some  of  the  Reasons  for  the  Hostility  Against  the  Catholic 
Church — Objections  Not  to  Mexican  Priests  but  French 
and  Spanish  Clericals — Possibility  of  an  Independent 
Catholic  Church  of  Mexico. 


«. 


Mexico  City,  December,  191 6. 


RELIGIOUS  contention  has  played  no  pecially    in    El    Pueblo,    the    semi-official 

small    part    in    Mexico's    social    up-  organ  of  the  Government.     Of  the  merits 

heaval,  and  one  need  not  be  a  church  of  the  argument  it  is  not  necessary  here 

partisan   to   observe   that   while   freedom  to  speak.   (The  truth  is  that  most  of  th 
of    worship    is    now    granted    to    Roman 


Catholics  as  well  as  other  rects  by  the 
de  facto  Government  in  conformity  with 
established  law,  the  fight  against  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  its  alleged  intol- 
erance, and  its  remarkable  hold  on  the 
masses  here,  has  only  begun. 

{The  fact  is  that  unless  the  Church  at 
Rome  sees  the  handwriting  on  the  wail 
1  and  adopts  a  more  liberal  policy  in  Mexico, 
permitting  Mexican  priests  and  a  Mexican 
hierarchy  to  conduct  its  services  through- 
out the  country  instead'  of  French  and 
Spanish  padres,  there  will  be  eventually  a 
Catholic  Church  of  Mexico,  separate  and 
distinct  from  the  Church  of  RomeJ 

This  suggestion  indeed  is  being  serious- 
ly advanced  in  the  press  of  Mexico,  es- 


men  in  the  Carranza  Government, 
originally  Catholics,  are  anxious  to  lib- 
eralize the  Catholic  Church,  to  make  it 
more  in  sympathy  with  the  national 
spirit,  and  if  they  do  not  succeed  an 
independent  movement  may  result  which 
would  mean  that  the  Church  at  Rome 
might  lose  its  church  properties  here, 
for  the  new  church  might  lay  claim  to 
them. 

The  general  expectation  is  that  so  rad- 
ical a  step  will  not  be  necessary,  and 
that  the  Church  of  Rome  will  make 
needed  changes  in  the  personnel  of  the 
clergy.  But  in  the  midst  of  the  con- 
troversy and  discussion  there  is  good 
ground  to  believe  that  Protestantism  will 
gain  a  strong  foothold. 


A'rriTrDE  toward  protrstant  missions. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  officials  of  the  de 
facto  Government  feel  kindly  disposed 
toward  the  foreign  mission  movements  of 
the  Protestant  churches.  The  Protestant 
missionaries  help  in  the  establishment  of 
schools  and  generally  in  educating  the 
ignorant  thousands.  Anything  that  helps 
to  educate  Mexicans  is  considered  by 
the  Carranza  Administration  a  good 
thing,  and  the  particular  grudge  the 
party  in  power  to-day  has  against  the 
Catholic  Church  is  its  alleged .  obstruc- 
tion of  education  and  progress. 

The  Catholic  Church  as  it  has  ex 
here — the   institution   itself,   not  its 
vice — has  been  charged  by  the  Cam 
Administration  with  playing  politics.  The 
Church    is    supposed    to    have    furnished 
funds  to  sustain  Huerta.  is  accused  now  , 
1.''    supporting    Felix    Diaz,   and.    through   ! 
refugee   priests   In   the   United   States,   is   i 
reld    to    be    conspiring    for    intervention. 
s.i  the  enmity  is  considered  in  Mexico  to 
!>.    a  more   or   less  reciprocal   affair. 

And  while  the  controversy  is  going  on 
some  interesting  things  are  happening.^ 
Most  of  the  Constitutionalist  officials  do 
not  attend  any  churches,  and  say  they 
will  not  untiK  Catholicism  is  placed  on 
a  non-political  and  broadei  basis,  All 
the  wives  and  daughters,  however,  of 
these  same  Government  ottii  ials  are  pious 
Catholics — they  never  miss  mass,  and 
they  frown  on  reii.uious  discussion, 
change,'  or  reform.  The  women  aj*  con- 
tent with  the  Chinch  as  it  is,  which 
makes  one  doui.ii  frequently  whether  the 
present  anti-Catholic  movement  will 
make  the  headway  which  the  Govern- 
ment   authorities    predict. 

THK    CASl'AR    KIKNDO    IKCIl-KNT. 

The  friction  is  not  without  its  humor- 


IZG 


js  aide.  Recently  there  arrived  in  Max- 
co  an  Italian  by  name,  Gaspar  Riendo. 
Ae  claimed  when  in  company  with  cer- 
tain church  dignitaries  to  be  persona 
grata  to  the  Pope  at  Rome,  indeed  to  be 
the  representative  of  his  Holiness.  To 
others,  Riendo  spoke  of  the  need  for  a 
separate  church — a  Mexican  Catholic 
Church.  He  is  supposed  to  have  talked 
that  way  among  the  Government  offi- 
cials, contending  that  he  had  always  been 
in  sympathy  with  the  revolution. 

Canon  Antonio  Paredes,  who  is  the 
nominal  head  of  the  Church  in  Mexico, 
having  been  left  in  charge  by  Archbishop 
Mora  y  del  Rlc,  declined  to  recognize 
Riendo  and  openly  accused  him  of  being 
aa  impostor.  Riendo's  credentials  were 
demanded,  but  he  claimed  they  were  stol- 
en from  his  baggage  by  the  Constitution- 
alists at  Vera  Cruz.  Nobody  would  have 
paid  any  attention  to  Riendo  except  that 
Padre  Jesus  Cortez,  head  of  the  most 
fashionable  church  in  Mexico  City,  de- 
clared himself  in  complete  sympathy  with 
Riendo.  Then  Canon  Faredes  cabled 
Rome,  and  in  a  few  days  produced  a 
message  from  the  Vatican,  signed  by  the 
Papal  Secretary,  denying  all  knowledge 
of  Riendo  or  his  mission. 

Still  Cortez  would  not  repudiate  Rien- 
do.   This  led  the  Canon  to  denounce  Cor- 
tez and   finally  to    dismiss   him.     Padre 
Cortez  refused  to  heed  the  order,  claim- 
ing   Paredes    had    no    such    jurisdiction, 
whereupon  the  latter  announced  through 
the  press  that  any  one  attending  mass 
celebrated    by    Padre    Cortez    would    be 
excommunicated.  For  a  time  other  priests 
officiated,  but  suddenly  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing Cortez  reappeared,  which  resulted  in 
a  panicky  exodus  of  worshippers.    Traf- 
fic on  the  street  in  front  of  the  church 
was  stopped  for   a  long  time  while  the 
crowd  waited  to  see  if  Cortez  would  re- 
main after  such  a  demonstration  of  dis-^ 
approval.     He   stayed,   and   several    hun- 
dred Catholics  didn't  celebrate  mass  that 
day.      Now   most   of  them   attend   other 
churches,    and    the    Sagrado    Corazon    is 
deserved,    though    every    Sunday    people 
peep   in  to   see   if   Cortez   is  still   there. 
Riendo;    In    the    meantime,    has    disap- 
peared. 

TH*  CHURCH    IS    BLAMBD. 

From  the  -&oint  of  view  of  the  de  facto 
Government  Cflcials,    the  Church   is   re- 
sponsible for  What  is  now  happening,  and 
that  had  the  Church   obeyed  the  reform 
vs  of  1857,  which  provided  for  the  sep- 
ition   of  church  and   state,   there    now 
be  no  difficulty.     Incidentally  the 
tttutionaliats  claim  they   are   to-day 
merely    enforcing    those    laws.      Indeed, 
these  statutes  are  being  incorporated  in 
the  tip*  Constitution  at  Querfttaro  with- 
out change. 

Briefly,  the  laws  of  1857  forbid  con- 
vents atfd  monasteries  and  the  appear- 
ance in  public  of  priests  in  clerical  garb. 


■jjp^pjpjpjpjpjSjBJBJpjBJSJBBaBJSJBJ| 

THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 

The  Church  is  forbidden  to  hold  property 
and  is  not  permitted  directly  or  indirect- 
ly to  participate  in  politics  or  the  affairs 
of  the  Government  Diaz,  and  then 
Huerta,  winked  at  the  open  violation  of 
these  laws.  Prhe  Constitutionalists  have 
enforced  these  laws  rigidly.  There  have 
been  excesses.  Some  of  the  radicals  have 
gone  beyond  the  law,  but  to-day  the  boast 
of  the  Government  is  that  worship  in 
the  Catholic  Church  is  permitted  on  an 
equality  with  all  other  religions^fThere 
is  no  persecution  now  \>f  the  priests, 
though  discontent  among  the  Mexican 
clergy  with  the  Spanish  and  French 
priests  is  growing.) 

OUTCRY  A  REVOLUTIONIST'S  TENDENCY. 

Mexican    Government    officials    do    not 
feel  very  kindly  toward  Cardinal  Gibbons 
and   others   who   have  attacked  them  in 
the  public  prints  or  have  worked  against 
their    recognition    by    the    United    States. 
rThe  Mexicans  say  the  American  Catho- 
lic  Church   has   been    used   by    Rome    to 
protect  vested   interests   In    Mexico, ..  that 
the    quarrel    is    political,    and    that   if   it 
keeps  up  there  will  be  a  reaction  against 
Catholicism  itselfT/  But  it  is  well  to  re- 
member   that    the    outcry      against      the 
Church  in  Mexico  only  comes  to  the  sur- 
face in  revolutionary  days.     It  is  a  good 
deal  like  the  anti-Wall  Street  campaigns 
which  are  launched  to  gain   votes  in  our 
political    campaigns.      The    lower    clergy 
have  a  grievance  against  the  French  And 
Spanish     priests — the     foreigners.     (The 
Church   of   Rome    has    undoubtedly   been 
somewhat    backward,    aa      for     example, 
with    respect   to     matrimony,     the     fees 
charged   being  so   far   beyond   the   means 
of  the  poorer  classes  that  in  many  States, 
especially  on  the  ranches  and  farms,  the 
ceremony  has  for  years  been  entirely  dis- 
pensed with.     Then  there   have   been   too 
many  churches  and  too  many  priests  in 
some  cities. 

There  is  nothing  inherent  in  the 
Catholic  religion  to  which  the  Mexican 
objects.  Its  imagery  and  symbolism  is 
what  fits  his  conception  of  life.     But  the 


.-*  ■■:  .'     »  '  v. 


management  of  the  whole  business,  the 
system,  the  plethora  of  foreign  priests  f 
and  churches,  its  part  in  politics— con- 
stituting a  system— is  something  far  dif- 
ferent from  the  religion  itself,  especially 
a<j  it  is  known  in  the  United  States.  It 
is  the  system,  the  foreign  priests,  to 
which  Mexicans  object  primarily,  and 
from  one  discontent  have  arisen  many 
others. 

ATTITUDE   OF  THE  U.    8.    GOVERNMENT. 
The  Carranza  Administration  rode  mto 
power   on   an    anti-Catholic     programme 
which  was  not  altogether  unpopular  or  It 
never  would  have  been  pressed.  (All  radi- 
cal administrations   become   conservative 
in  time.     The  Carranza  Government  will 
be  busy  with  too  many  things  to  continue 
the   assault   against   the   Church    beyond 
the  lines  already  laid— an  enforcement  of 
the   Reform   laws  of   1857,     and     If    the 
Church  of  Rome  handles  the  matter  skil- 
fully,   it   can    prevent   a   serious   schlsfST) 
For  the   thing  has  by   no  means  gottefi 
out  of  v    id.    The  Mexican  clergy  are  an 
import         mcleus  stiU 
(in  all       this  It  is  known  that  the  Unit- 
ed" States  Government  has  taken  a  lively 
interest,    but    beyond     insisting    on     the 
principle  of  religious  tolerance  and  non- 
discrimination they  cannot  diplomatically 
intercede.      Even     this    is     stretching   a 
point,  for  religious  questions  are  strictly 
internal  affairs.     The  American  Govern- 
ment  must   phrase   its  inquiries  vaguely 
arguing  merely  that  religious  freedom  is 
a  characteristic  of  civilized  nations  and 
that  to  preserve   the  friendship    of     the 
United  States  and     other    nations  there 
should  be  no  persecution  of  Catholics  aa 
such,  or  interference  with  their  customs 
of  fcyorshipJ  This  is  given  as  the  advice 
oc* Mexico's  "nearest  neighbor." 

But  the  Mexicans  claim  they  are  per- 
mitting the  greatest  freedom,  are  merely 
enforcing  the  law,  and  that  if  the  Cath- 
olics keep  out  of-  politics,  cease  support- 
ing revolutionary  movements,  and  substi- 
tute Mexican  clergy  for  Spanish  and 
French  clergy,  the  Church  will  have 
nothing  to  fear. 


I  / 


^0 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


VI. 


MEXICO  REBORN 


Social  Aspects  of  Six  Years  of  Internecine  Strife— Country  is 
Paying  Dearly  for  Her  Revolution— Curbing  Lawless- 
ness and  Immorality. 


Mexico  City,  December,  1916. 


' 


(  f\Y  /ELL,  what  of  the- people?"   Every 
X^once  in  a  while  somebody, in  the 
midst  of  a  discussion   j       Jexi- 
can  politics  or  economic  conditio  .^   here 
asks  that  question.     It  is  not  necessarily 
asked     in     a     spirit     of     criticism,     im- 
plying that  the  sixteen  millions  of  people 
are  innocent  bystanders,  helpless  victims 
of  250,000  of  their  number  who  comprise 
the  grand  total  of  the  whole  revolution- 
ary  business,   army,    officials,    politicians, 
chiefs,  et  al.     But  the  revolutionists,   or 
Constitutionalists  as   they   prefer  to  call 
themselves,    sit    down    themselves    occa- 
sionally—that is.   the   philosophically   in- 
clined among  them   do— to  discuss  what 
effect  six  years  of  internecine  strife  has 
had  on  the  younger  generation,  what  it 
is  doing  to  the  civil  side  of  things,  what 
morality   or   immorality    it   is   producing, 
and  what  will  the  Mexico  of  to-morrow 
be  like,  built  as  it  must  be  on  the  foun- 
dations of  to-day. 

Since  the  subject  is  sociological  and  not 
political,  impartial  opinion  is  easily  dis- 
covered. The  first  effects  of  the  five  years 
at  revolution  have  not  been  favorable, 
rrhere  has  been  a  retrogression  in  moral- 
ity, which  includes,  of  course,  Qualities 
of  honesty  and  uprightness  as  well  as 
the  fundamentals  of  family  life}  This 
ia  indisputable  because  it  is  obvious.  But 
the  Constitutionalists  are  quite  right 
when,  admitting  the  ill-effects,  they  argue 
these  to  be  in  conformity  merely  with 
the  laws  of  social  progress  and  predict 
an  inevitable  trend  upward  on  the  chart 
'  of  morality. 

/To  inspect  Mexico  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  sociologist,  it  is  necessary 
to  remember  that  class  lines  are  very 
indistinct;  it  is  difficult,  unless  one  knows 
this  incongruous  population  of  mixed 
bloods  and  racesT  to  tell  Where  one  class 
«  ends  and  another  begins)  Similarly  you 
must  take  horizontal  as  wen  as  perpen- 


dicular cross  sections.  There  is  an  upper, 
a  middle,  and  a  lower  class  division  in 
southern  Mexico  which  differs  from  those 
same  three  in  the  central  country,  and  • 
is  also  unlike  the  classes  in  the  north  of 
the  republic. 


NORTHERN    PEOPLE   8TURDT. 

The  people  of  the  north  of  Mexico  are 
of  the  sturdy  race— they  began  this  revo- 
lution,  and    they    are    the   virile    persons 
who    forced -a    radical    programme    on    a 
more  or  less  decadent  ruling  ciass  in  the  . 
capital.      But    that    is    the    geographical 
division:    every  large   country  that  begins 
far  outside  the  tropics  and  spreads  down 
toward  the  equator,  a  land  of  almost  per- 
petual sunshine,  breeds  persons  of  vary- 
ing  complexions  and     varying     energies.  . 
Anyone  who  has  lived  in  Mexico  a  week 
knows  what  you    mean   when   you   refer 
to   the   •'Indiana."   or   the   "peons."   those 
primitive,  half-clad,  dirty,  barefooted  men, 
women,  girls,   boys,  babies,  of  brown  face 
and  jet  black  hair  and  scarcely  any  edu-<, 
cation.     Also     there    are     those     of    the 
Indian  type,  just  slightly  more  advanced., 
—they   may   wear   shoes  instead   of  san- 
dals and  trousers  instead  of  mis-shapen 
pantaloons  rolled  to  the  bare  knees.  But 
improvement   in   dress   does   not   always 
signify   education.  .  The  majority  of  the 
people  in   Mexico  are   tanned— either  by 
the    sun    of    to-day    or    the    sun    which 
browned    their    Indian    ancestors.      Only 
when   you  have  talked  to  them  and  de- 
termined  the  limits  of  their   minds  can 
you  tell  whether  you  are  approaching  the 
upper  classes.    As  a  rule  the  pure  whites,* 
the     second     generation    of     Spaniards, 
those  who  emigrated  from  the  north  of 
Spain,  are  people  of  education  and  cul- 
ture. .  . 

Still  culture  Is  a  hard  word  to  denne 
with  respect  to  Mexico.  Even  the  lower 
classes  are   passionately   fond  of   muBic. 


n 


They   have   an    inborn    affinity   for   flae- 
art.    And  gentility,  instead  of  savagenes* 
characterizes  them  for  the  most  part.  ■  - 

NEED   OF   EDUCATION. 

Of  course,  in  the  tipper  classes  are 
/found  Mexico's  finest-looking  men  and 
women,  but  not  necessarily  its  most  ca-  • 
pable  people.  In  the  Diaz  regime,  the  more 
or  less  well-to-do,  the  first  families,  ruled 
the  country.  -  The  Carranza  Government 
is  really  a  mbst  representative  affair — in 
an  ethnological  sense.  For  in  it  the  mid- 
dle class,  composed  of  the  original  Mexi- 
can type — a  combination  of  Indian  aria 
Spanish — predominates.  ~>fhere  are  in  thip. , 
Government,  too,  men  whose  parents  hay* 
been  full-blooded  Indians— tfcenjseives 
peons— and  there  are  men  also  of.  tjfce 
\  cultured  class. which  has  always  managed 
jto  keep  on  top,  but  their  liberalism,  not 
their  money,  gives  them  power  to-day. 

The  Constitutionalists  who  rule  Mexi- 
co are  northerners.  Gen.  Carranza,  Gen. 
Obregon,  Gen.  Pablo  Gonzales,  Ignacio 
Bonillas.  Alberto  Pani— all  these  leaders 
are  from  the  Mexican  states  nearest  U-e 
Kio  Grande.  How  much  the  inlluence  *>t 
contact  with  the  ideals  of  the  United 
States  may  have  had  in  giving  these  men 
the  courage  of  their  convictions  is  hard 
to  say,  but  undoubtedly  they  have  caught 
some  of  the  spirit  of  the  great  republic, 
beyond.) 

1  was  walking  one  day  with  one  of  the 
Constitutionalist  leaders,  a  man  of  tech- 
nical education,  but  interested,  too,  .in 
Mexico's  social  needs.  We  almost  stum- 
bled over  a  man  and  boy  asleep,  folded  la 
I  Sankets  under  the  sky.  They  lay  along- 
side some  freight  cars,  wherein  were 
troivps,  wives,  children,  and  camp  follow- 
ers. 

•It  will  take  generations,"  he  said,  "to  • 
make  this  a  rare  sight  in  Mexico.  Edu- 
cation will  do  it — education  that  the 
(ientiflcos"  said  wasn't  good  for  the 
people,  education  that  the  Catholic 
church  wouldn't  give  them,  education, 
that  we  must  give  them  and  will.  It 
alone  can  change  all  this." 


CURBING    THE    LAWLESSNESS. 

On  the  theory  that  a  little  knowledge 
is  a  dangerous  thing,  the  old  regime  kept 
the  iower  classes  in  constant  ignorance  . 
as  well  as  In  constant  awe  of  those 
r.bove.  To-day  the  peons  still  impress 
you  as  afraid  any  mi  nut.  they  will  be 
enslaved  as  happened  on  one  pretext  or 
another  in  the  days  of  the  Porfirmta  sys- 
tem. 

Hasn't  liberty  given  way,  as  it  usual- 
ly does,  to  license?  There  can  be  no 
doubt  of  it.  Serious  abuse  of  new-found 
liberty,  excesses  of  ail  kinds,  robberies, 
bandit  depredations,  and  a  wave  of  mur- 
der and  crime  have  followed  in  the  wake 
of  the  revolution.  An  unscrupulous  class 


mo 


■■■■ 


MMBBHHBMMHSMByMMI 


THE   TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


usually-  rules  a  revolutionary  army,  *nd 
If  not  savage  at  the  outset,  its  leaders 
become  so  when  intoxicated  with  power. 
It  is  simply  a  drop  from  ordered  life  to 
the  primitive  state  wherein  might  makes 
right,  wherein  self-preservation  and 
selfishness  are  the  .only  laws  that  are 
recognized. 

But   all    this    was   inevitable    and   the 
•  Constitutionalist   leaders     are    absolutely 
confident  that  they  will  be  able  to  curb 
lawlessness.   In   fact,  they  have  already 
stamped  out  a  good  deal   of  it.     Yet  it 
must  of  necessity  leave  imprint  on  the 
young,    the    boys   of    fifteen   to    twenty.   / 
whose  growth  has  been     parallel     with 
anarchy,    a   disrupted    Government,    the 
collapse  of  courts,  and  a  reign  of  terror. 
1     Immorality   practiced  by   so   many   of 
the  captains,  colonels,  and  generals  with 
impunity  has  had  a  correspondingly  had 
effect    on   the   young  in   those   districts 
I  where  the  revolution  jhas  trampled  un- 
|der   foot   the   old  order   of  things,   but 
fortunately  the  fighting  has  been  going 
on  in  comparatively  few  places,  in  the 
small  towns  along     the     main    railroad . 
lines.  The  big  cities  have  changed  hands 
frequently,  but  with  few  exceptions  has 
there  been  much  fighting  in  them.  On  the 
ranches  and  farms,  on  the  plantations,  in 
Yucatan,  for  example,     or     the  stats  of 
Guadalajara,  the   normal   appearance   of 
things  is  preserved,  the  social  structure, 
such  as  it  was.  is  Intact 

msxico  crrr  and  Guadalajara. 

Mexico  City  and  the  city  of  Guadalajara 
ate  the  two  largest  cities  of  the  republic, 
the  former  with  nearly  600,000  and  the 
latter   with   at   least   120,000    population. 
Streets  have  not  been  kept  up  and  are 
sadly  in  need  of  repair,  but  the  commu- 
nity  life  is  much   the    same   as   it   has 
been.      Guadalajara    has    been    least    af- 
fected  of   all   the   important    cities,   and 
flourishing   to-day.     Mexico   City   has 
ramshackle  appearance,  but  is  slowly 
rig  put  into  habitable  condition  by  the 
felcipal  authorities.     The  chief  of  po- 
lice,   once    a    light-opera    comedian,    lias 
turned  out  to  be  an  efficient  administrator 
and  One  who  has  reduced  the  number  of 
street  ItOldups  and  cafe  brawls  to  a  rath- 
er   resfSSj^table    minimum — at    any    rate, 
one  that .Compares  not  unfavorably  with 
what    happens    on    the   Bowery    in    New 
York  or  South  Clark  Street  in  Chicago. 

Life  among  the  better  classes  is  some- 
what different.  There  depressed  spirits, 
prevail.  So  many  friends  have  been  ex- 
iled! Properties  l»ve  been  taken  away. 
Many  of  the  houses  are  now  being  given 
back  to  the  "cientiflcos."  The  Constitu- 
tionalists are  really  doing  a  commendable 
work  in  correcting  the  earlier  abuses  of 
th$lr  'military  commanders,  but  much  is 
still  to  be  desired  before  Mexico  City 
will  W. able  to  resume  its  gay  life  uf 
yesteryears. 


Theatres,  operas,  movlng-pieture  shows, 
and  burlesque  performances  are  in  full 
swing  in  the  city.  They  always  have 
been,  no  matter  what  faction  held  the 
capital.  Mexicans  must  be  amused.  A  • 
circus  moves  about  the  country,  drawing 
big  crowds.  And  midst  all  the  fighting 
and  the  money  famine,  one  of  the  finest 
looking  edifices  in  the  world— the  Na- 
tional Theatre  of  Mexico— is  slowly  being  1 
completed. 

Is  Mexico  better  off  to-day.'  are/  the 
people  happier,  more  contented  with  the 
rights  and  liberties  now  restored  to  them 
by  the  revolution?  The  physical  facts 
admit  of  only  one  answer:  Not  yet  Revo- 
lution  in    established   institutions   means 


not  simply  destruction  of  crops,  maraud? 
ing  armies,  and  the  spread  of  diSSaS^  It 
means  famine  and  high  prices  and  suf- 
fering. Mexico  has  suffered  much.  The 
benefits  of  a  revolution  are  not  immediate 
benefits..  It  took  a  long  time  to  recon- 
struct France  after  the  Revolution,  pur 
own  Civil  War  brought  on  a  terrible 
period  of  hardship  for  the  South.  Mex- 
ico is  paying  dearly  for  her  revolution, 
J*ut  it  was  inevitable;  it  had  to  happen. 
\And  disturbed  by  no  outside  force,  the 
revolution  will,  as  it  has  in  other  parts 
of  the  world  and  in  other  periods  of  his- 
tory, prove  a  godsend  to  the  country,  for 
Mexico  is  being  reborn.  A 


VII. 


GRAFT-PURE  AND  SLMPLE 


Reign  of  Fraud  Makes  Internal  Problem  for  Carranza  one  of 
Serious  Difficulty— His  Hand  Firmly  Set  Against  Graft- 
ers_Pani's  Contest  With  the  Military. 


Mexico  City,  December,  1916. 


THIS  is  a  story  about  graft.  And  if 
graft  is  too  generic  a  term,  let  it  be 
called  loot,  fraud,  plunder,  robbery, 
burglary— or  anything  else  that  expresses 
the  idea  of  deliberately  taking  from  one 
person  that  which  belongs  to  him  and 
calmly  taking  unto  one's  self  his  prop- 
erty, usufruct  and  all. 

Graft  is  not  an  innovation,  however,  in 
Mexico — nor  is  it  peculiarly  ende"mic  to 
the  tropics.  Whispers  of  it  are  some- 
times heard  in  the  United  States,  but  for 
plain,  open,  unblushing  graft,  which  in- 
cludes speculation  with  a  fluctuating 
currency,  the  manipulators  down  here 
could  give  tl\e  brotherhood  up  North  a 
long  handicap  and  beat  them  handily. 


Before  proceeding  further,  however,  to 
explain  the  devious  ways  by  which  graft 
is  practiced  here,  it  ought  to  be  stated  at 
the  outset  that  the  honest  men  in  the 
Carranza  Government  know  who  the  dis- 
honest ones  are,  and  that  Venustiano 
Carranza,  First  Chief,  and  soon  to  -be 
President,  knows  more  about  them  than 
any  one  in  the  republic.  And  what  he  is 
doing  to  stamp  it  out,  how  he  actually 
is  succeeding,  the  risks  he  is  taking  with 
some  of  his  military  chiefs — all  this  is 
but  a  small  part  of  the  burdens  of  the 
man  who  is  trying  to  establish  a  govern- 
ment in  Mexico.";  He  has  an  unenviable 
job.  So,  when  you  read  reports  of  loot 
here  and  there,  of  forced  loans,  of  the 


izo 


■BJMtJ| 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


» .«> 


stealing:  of  horses  and  cattle,  of  the  loot- 
ing qf  stores,  remembe^that  there  is  one 
man  on  top  whose  power  is  slowly  in- 
creasing, and  who  will  not  right  away, 
but  in  the  course  of  time,  get  the  upper 
hand  and  enforce  discipline  in  a  manner 
that  will  make  Porfirlo  Diaz  seem  like  a 
mollycoddle. "\  He  has  the  backbone  to  do 
it,  but  he  also  has  the  good  sense  not  to 
try  to  reform  everything  at  once.  In  any 
revolution  such  as  has  to  do  with  funda- 
mental principles  of  government,  the  first 
task  is  the  actual  organization  of  the 
government,  and  after  that,  after  author- 
ity is  once  definitely  distributed,  then  at- 
tention can  be  paid  to  the  morals  of  the 
community. 

WHEN   MIGHT   MAKES   RIGHT. 

But  the  story  of  graft  is  an  interesting 
commentary  on  what  happens  when  a 
state  is  dissolved,  when  the  state  disin- 
tegrates and  really  for  a  time  sovereignty 
goes  back  to  the  several  elements  or  fac- 
tions that  comprise  the  people  and  where 
might  makes  right  as  well  as  law  in  the 
land. 

What  is  happening  now  is  an  evolution, 
a  gradual  return  to  discipline  and  order, 
and  if  the  process  seems  lame  and  slow, 
do  not  forget  that  the  revolution  has  been 
going  on  for  five  years,  and  during  that 
time  the  civil  strife,  the  marauding  ar- 
mies, and  raiding  bandits  have  done  quite 
a  complete  job  of  it — that  is,  of  disinte- 
grating the  authority  and  the  physical 
structure  of  the  land. 

Unscrupulous  persons  exist  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  but  Latin-America  has  an 
abundance  of  them,  especially  among  the 
lower  classes.  One  always  had  to  mind 
his  watch  and  his  pocketbook  in  Mexico 
City,  but  to-day  he  must  sew  them  up 
in  his  clothes — and  then  he  isn't  sure  of 
keeping  them,  for  just  the  other  day  * 
blithe  young  Mexican  returned  to  one  of 
the  clubs  and  discovered  that  somebody 
in  the  street  car,  on  the  street,  somewhere, 
had  cut  a  neat  little  slit  just  above  the 
,,ocket  of  his  trousers  and  extracted  there- 
from his  neatly  arranged  packet  of  bills. 

Street  cars  arc  infested  with  pickpock- 
ets, also  with  germs.  Moral:  Don't  ride  on 
street  cars.  Ride  in  the  coaches  (hacks) 
or  in  automobiles,  if  they  are  available, 
though  you  must  spend  quite  a  fortune 
doing  so.  Still  it  may  be  an  economical 
investment,  a  wise  insurance.  \ 

THE    THIEVES'    MARKET. 

There  is  a  place  in  Mexico  City  the 
Mexicans  have  named  "the  Thieves'  Mar- 
ket," recognizing  the  character  of  the 
merchandise  sold  therein.  Prices  fluctu- 
ate merrily.  They  take  anything  you  will  V 
give  almost.  It  is  a  cut-rate  shop,  and  :^ 
at  the  entrance  thore  are  dozens  of  un- 
intelligible signs.  They  ought  to  read, 
"Nothing  but  Stolen  Property  Accepted 
Here." 


You  can't  leave  a  bicycle  or  an  auto 
around,  if  perchance  you  must  run  in  at 
the  telegraph  office,  the  post  office,  or  the 
theatre.  Either  you  must  devise  a  lock 
as  big  as  the  machine  itself  or  hire  an 
army  of  brown-faced  muchachos  to  watch 
the  vehicle — boys  whom  you  survey  with 
that  comfortable  expression  of  scc^rByi 
which  at  heart  you  know'^s  really?  a  fear 
that  the  youths  may  be  in  collusion  with 
the  thieves  themselves! 

But  these  are  petty  forms  of  stealing. 
They  are  mere  matters  for  the  municipal 
police  to  attend  to,  and  little  by  little  the 
nation's  capital  is  getting  a  decent  force 
of  police  and  detectives.  Some  day — pos- 
sibly another  six  months  or  year — things 
In  your  pockets  may  be  a  little  safer  than 
they  have  been.  In  fact,  the  improve- 
ment in  the  last  six  months  has  been  no- 
ticeable. More  autos  are  on  the  streets, 
more  bicycles,  and  more  people  go  stroll- 
ing at  night  There  hasn't  been  a  hold- 
up of  consequence  in  several  weeks. 

ENGAGING    A    FREIGHT    CAR. 

The  real  graft  in  Mexico  Is  in  the 
money  speculation,  in  the  misuse  of 
freight  cars,  the  commandeering  of  sup- 
plies by  corrupt  generals  and  colonels. 
Any  one  who  has  tried  to  do  business  in 
Mexico  in  the  last  few  years  knows  it 
in  graphic  detail  If  you  had  managed 
.to  get  a  consignment  of  goods  to  Mexico 
by  steamship,  the  problem  was  to  get 
it  overland  by  rail  to  Mexico  City.  Roll- 
ing stock  is  scarce.  Perhaps  by  paying 
the  military  commander  at  the  port,  or 
some  subordinate,  a  neat  little  sum,  you 
could  get  a  freight  car  for  your  goods. 
It  may  be  some  one  else's  freight  car, 
paid  for  and  contracted  for  weeks  in  ad- 
vance, but  what  matters  that — what's  a 
freight  car  compared  to  some  good  old- 
fashioned  silver  or  gold,  especially  with 
paper  currency  going  down,  down,  down 
every  day?  So  you  yield  to  the  extor- 
tion, only  it  is  hard  to  say  when  the  next 
contribution  must  be  made,  that  is,  who 
will  hold  up  the  car  en  route  and  demand 
his  fee.  And  so  it  has  gone  for  months. 
The  offenders  'have  been  the  military. 
Generals  and  colonels  early  in  tfce  revo- 
lution seized  freight  cars  and  day  coach- 
es and  Pullmans,  and  converted  them  into 
grotesque  private  cars.  The  troop  trains 
— ordinary  box  cars — were  converted  into 
dormitories  which  for  sheer  dirt  and  smcli 
would  drive  the  average  American  crazy 
if  he  had  to  live  therein  twenty  minutes. 
Few  people  have  known  of  the  real 
fight  against  these  things  which  the.  Car- 
ranza  Government  has  made.  Alberto 
Pani,  president  of  the  National  Railways* 
began  last  summer  a  campaign  against 
these  military  men;  and,  with  the  co- 
operation of  ths  First  Chief,  issued  the 
most  drastically  worded  circulars  and  or- 
ders. They  have  been  effective,  too.  Pani 
defied  generals  and  colonels.     Ons  night 


the  passenger  train  which  was  di 
leave  Mexico  City  for  Laredo  had  a 
l'ul  of  passengers.  A  Mexican  anc 
wife  had  a  (  drawing-room  reserved 
many  weeks — it  is  SO  hard  to  get  acv 
modations.  And  they  had  paid  for  it  in 
metallic  currency,  too.  A  general  strolled 
along  and  ordered  them  out,  proceeding 
to  make  himself  at  home.  Mr.  Pani  hap- 
pened to  be  about  and  heard  the  discus  - 
sion.  He  ordered  the  general  out.  The 
latter  pointed  a  pistol  at  the  diminutive 
form  of  the  director  of  the  railways.  Mr. 
Pani  stood  his  ground,  called  the  general 
a  coward,  reminded  him  of  the  Firs*. 
Chief's  strict  orders  on  the  subject  of 
commandeering ,  trains,  and  told  him  to 
get  out — which  be  did.  Pani  has  done 
this  same  thing  over  and  over  again.  And 
employees  who  don't  insist  on  transpor- 
tation and  tickets  from  military  passen- 
gers are  heavily  fined.  Slowly  the  evil 
has  been  eradicated  until  to-day,  If  you 
buy  a  ticket  and  a  berth,  it  Is  yours.  And 
the  railroad  receipts  have  Increased  tre- 
mendously. * 

EXCHANGING    TOUR    MONET. 

Last  but  not  least  among  the  offenders 
against  honesty  and  other  outworn  vir- 
tues here  are  the  coyotes.  This  name, 
taken,  of  course,  from  the  plunderous  in- 
stinct of  the  animal  of  that  species,  is 
applied  to  the  brokers  who  buy  and  sell 
exchange.  If  you  have  American  money 
and  want  to  get  Mexican  paper  cur- 
rency, they  will  tell  you  the  rate  is  go- 
ing up,  that  you  had  better  exchange  to- 
day and  get  more  bills  than  might  be 
forthcoming  to-morrow.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  you  have  Mexican  money  and 
want  to  exchange  it  for  American  dol- 
lars, they  will  lament  the  general  condi- 
tion of  affairs,  thoy  will  tell  you  Car- 
ranza  is  going  to  fail,  that  the  Govern- 
ment is  collapsing,  and  that  the  number 
of  American  dollars  you  can  get  for  your 
Mexican  money  to-day  will  be  cut  in  half 
to-morrow — any  day. 

Then,  too,  with  the  Government  often 
decreeing  the  rate  of  exchange,  knowing 
in  advance  what  are  to  be  the  decree*) 
with  reapect  to  all  other  phases  of  ex- 
change, officials  tip  off  friends,  in  fact 
work  with  them  frequently  in  acquiring 
large  gains  on  the  very  changes  them- 
selves. It  la  hard  to  trace  this  form,  of 
graft,  but  fortunes  have  been  made  that 
way  Any  one  who  knew  a  month  ago  that 
all  the  paper  currency  in  Mexico  would 
be  valueless  thirty  days  afterward,  that 
only  Mexican  gold  and  silver  would  n* 
in  circulation,  that  the  amount  of  these 
coins  was  wofully  small,  and  that  they 
would  therefore  be  at  a  premium,  need 
only  to  have  quietly  exchanged  $1,000  in 
American  money  for  2,000  Mexican  silver 
pesos.  Ordinarily  a  peso  Is  worth  fifty 
cents,  and  two  are  exchanged  evenly 
an  American  dollar.  But  with  the  Mea 


1Z0 


■"'■'&   .":'•■'  '    •   i      -  ' ".'...  ■■■  '•  '»?'?..      ':'■■      ■'.•-■'"  ",'■''  "•"TV,'    •     •  ■'  *.  "'-"'  '•■"'    ';s.   ~   '■"--. 


■■IIMMHI 


i* 


peso  at  &  tan  per  cent,  premium,  the 
value  of  your  2,000  pesos  at  the  end  of 
1  hirty  days  -would  be  $1,100  in  American 
money,  and  you  would  have  $100  profit 
without  turning  a  hand,  without  doing 
more  than  asking  your  bank  to  exchange 
.merican  currency  for  Mexican  coin. 

PAPER    MONET   DRIVEN    OUT. 

Some  few  people,  of  course  some  in 
Government,  must  have  profited 
j  handsomely  by  all  this.  The  incident 
Is  mentioned  merely  to  illustrate  what 
Don  Venustiano  must  contend  with 
while  an  impatient  group  of  foreign  na- 
tions prod  him  for  not  preventing  a 
handful  of  ruffians  from  blowing  up  a 
train  in  some  unpronounceable  region  of 
the  mountain  districts  where  bandits 
hold   sway. 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 

i 

To-day  all  the  paper  money  has  been 
driven  out  of  circulation.  Thousands  of 
people  have  been  left  with  the  bills. 
These  are  useless  because  no  one  accepts 
them,  but,  just  the  same,  I  heard  the 
other  day  of  an  American  who  bought 
80,000  peso  bills  for  $80  in  gold,  and  in- 
tends holding  on  to  them  for  some  mys- 
terious reason.  Maybe  he  has  inside  in- 
formation that  these  bills  some  day  will 
be  retired  at,  say,  a  peso  for  ten  cen- 
tavos  of  Mexican  money,  or  a  nickel  in 
American  money.  In  that  case  he  would 
collect  $16,000  in  good  coin  of  the  realm 
with  American  eagles  inscribed  there- 
on. These  may  be  vague  dreams,  but 
the  thing  to  remember  is  that  not  a  few 
people  in  the  Government  itself  con- 
sider/ these  manipulations  merely  "hon- 
est  graftf' 


/All  of  which  Is  a  necessary  if  not  in- 
evitable phase  of  revolution.  And  while 
imposing  hardships  and  sufferings  on  the 
people,  rich  and  poor,  whose  property  is 
subject  to  such  kaleidoscopic  change  in 
value,  still  the  comforting  thought  is  that 
at  last  a  start  has  been  made  toward 
curing  these  evils.  Mexico  has  been 
honest  in  the  past,  and  nothing  has  hap- 
pened in  the  last  five  years  to  alter  the 
fundamental  character  of  most  o#v*he 
inhabitants,  business  men  included^!  It 
has  been  simply  a  reign  of  disorder. 
There  has  been  no  law.  Therefore,  no 
one  has  seen  fit  to  obey  any.  Now,  with 
the  early  return  >or  constitutional  order 
and  courts  of  Justice,  something  different 
should  result  J 


VIH. 


ARMED  INTERVENTION 


— 


The  Pro  and  Con  of  It — Revolution  Has  Put  Thousands  Under 
Arms  and  Seasoned  Them—  Why  Mexican  Patriotism 
Would  Produce  Bitter  Opposition — President  Wilson's 
Popularity  in  Mexico. 


Mexico  City,  December,  191 6. 


|-^EOPl^Lin    the    United    States    talk 
\~    about  armed  intervention  in  Mexico 
with  a  ^tan-'c  tn-up  spirit  of  brag- 
gadocio.    AnoVsome  Mexican  refugees  as 
well    as    Americans    who    have    lived    in 
Mexico  sit  abou£in  New  York  and  else- 
where  and  calmly Jfcell  you:     Intervention 
will  in-  welcomed;  there  will  not  be  much 
|Hhl*tance;   it  will  be  over  soon,  because 
^■L»eople  will  be  well  fed,  and— 

Thus  runs  superficial  opinion,  hut  no 
one?!*n  really  think  that  way  who  has 
P'-netHftted  the  Mexican  character  aol 
This  refugee  class  which  is  in  the  United 
States  to-day  and  wants  to  conserve  its 


Mexican  properties,  thinking  an  Ameri- 
can occupation  will  prevent  confiscation 
by  the  radical  revolutionists  now  in 
power— but  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Mex- 
ican people. 
vThey  talk  about  intervention  here,  ab- 
stractly and  academically^  It  is,  of 
ijourse,  always  impending — a  possibility. 
>Most  of  the  foreigners  have  blown  it 
through  thousands  of  smoke-rings  until 
they  believe  in  its  inevitableness  just  as 
they  believe  in  the  cycle  of  seasons^ 
They  think  it  will  help  them,  that  ah 
American  occupation  will  mean  freedom 
of  operation  and  the  same  privileges  they 


used  to  have  under  Diaz.  But  they  are 
mistaken.  The  American  troops  were  in 
possession  of  Vera  Cruz  a  year  ago,  and 
the  most  unpopular  names  among  the 
American  business  interests  were  those 
of  the  army  officers,  who  had  direct 
charge  of  various  municipal  departments. 
The  army  officers  Insisted  that  the 
Americans  must  be  subject  to  the  same 
rules  and  regulations  as  Mexicans,  and 
considerable  chafing  ensued  which  is  not 
yet  forgotten  in  the  American  colony. 

But  what  would  the  Mexican  people 
really  do  if  intervention  did  come?  It  is 
a  delicate  subject  to  talk  about  in  Mex- 
ico— that  is,  among  Mexicans — but  I 
managed  to  introduce  it  occasionally  in 
the  conversation  so  as  to  find  out  what 
Mexican  folks  thought  about  it. 

MEXICAN   PATRIOTISM. 

The  most  interesting  experience  was  at 
tea  one  Sunday  afternoon  in  the  home  of 
a  leading  family.  The  mother  is  half- 
American,  and,  of  course,  both  she  and 
her  son  of  twenty  speak  English.  We 
were  talking  of  the  political  situation. 
The  properties  of  the  family  had  been 
taken  away,  i*nd  such  as  remained  yield- 
ed about  ten  dollars  a  month  of  actual 
value,  though  thousands  In  worthless  pa- 
per currency.  It'  had  compelled  big  In- 
roads on  savings,  for  there  was  not 
enough  income  from  rents  to  pay  a  sin- 
gle servant  Fortunately,  the  real  wealth 
of  the  family  was  more  than  adequate; 
but  obviously  the  family  felt  bitterly  to- 


1Z0 


ward  the  Carranza  Government.  The 
mother  spoke  of  intervention  as  a, proba- 
ble remedy. 

"What  would  really  happen  if  inter- 
vention did  come?"  I  asked. 

"I  would  be  glad.  I  don't  think  there 
would  be  opposition.  The  people  would 
be  satisfied  with  any  Government  that 
kept  them  at  work,"  she  replied.  But 
•  there  was  an  interruption.  The  son 
spoke. 

"Oh,  no,  mother,"  he  said;  "there 
tcovld  be  opposition.  Why,  do  you  think 
I  would  stay  at  home?  Yes.  I  know  we 
have  American  blood  in  us,  but,  mother, 
wo  are  more  Mexican  than  American. 
And   wouldn't   Juan   go,   too?" 

The  son  was  speaking  of  a  younger 
brother,  now  at  school — but  all  the 
schools  have  now  been  militarized.  And 
the  mother  confessed  she  had  been  wor- 
ried many  times  lest  the  younger  boy 
should  go  off  with  the  army  before  she 
had  a  chance  to  see  him. 

Theoretically,  therefore,  there  would  be 
no  opposition,  but  actually,  of  course, 
there  would.  (Mexican  patriotism  Is  as 
strong  and  passionate  as  American  pa- 
triotism. )  One  Mexican  of  a  prominent 
family  told  me  that  he  had  never  car- 
ried a  pistol  in  his  life,  but  if  the  Amer- 
ican troops  came  he  would  not  be  with- 
out one.  He  would  resent  any  insult,  he 
would  fight  the  hated  invader  every 
chance  he  got. 

BT    NO    MEANS    A    WALK-OVER. 

This  would  mean  endless  sniping,  and 
before  the  American  forces  #ot  through 
they  would  have  to  apply  practically  the 
same  measures  or  force  that  the  Ger- 
mans thought  it  necessary  to  use  in  Bel- 
gium to  disarm  and  conquer  the  civil 
population. 

But,  from  a  military  point  of  view, 
there  ought  to  be  no  misunderstanding 
of  what  sort  of  righting  woflld  be  en- 
countered. There  would  be  a  good  deal 
of  marauding,  banditry,  and  guerrilla 
warfare.  Thousands  and  thousands  of 
soldiers  would  have  to  be  used  to  garri- 
son the  lines  of  communication,  and  in 
the  last  few  years,  it  must  be  remember- 
ed, the  Mexicans  have  become  quite  ex- 
pert in  blowing  up  bridges  and  dynamit- 
ing \rains.  The  revolution  has  taught 
them  much  about  warfare. 

For  five  years  at  least  150,000  men  have 
been  under  arms,  have  withstood  the  rig- 
ors of  the  climate,  have  become  seasoned 
fighters.  \The  American  troops,  unused 
to  the  country  and  bushwhacK'.ng,  would 
find  their  task  an  unusually  difficult  on« 
Nobody — not  even  the  Mexican — hail 
any  doubt  that  the  United  States,  with 
Its  immense  resources,  eventually  would 
conquer.  But  the  Mexican  can  go  down 
with  as  much  resignation,  and  can  take 
defeat  as  heroically,  as  any  people  in  the 
world.  I  "to   die   for    one's   country   is  as 


^ ■BMHBBBBBBMHBBWBBHBMBHBBBBMBBna 


THE    TRUTH    A$OUT    MEXICO 

nobly  extolled  in  Mexico  as  in  the  Unit- 
ed States  ot  on  the  battlefields  of  Europe. 
Human  nature  Is  not  a  bit  different  in 
Mexico^? 

But/ assuming  that  intervention  did 
come,  assuming  that  an  American  occu- 
pation finally  did  tranquillize  the  coun- 
try, and  the  United  States  set  itself  to 
putting  Mexico's  house  in  order,  to  set- 
tle the  problems  that  have  caused  popu- 
lar discontent  and  revolution,  to  whom, 
to  what  class  or  group,  would  the  admin- 
istration of  affairs  lie  given?  it  must 
be  to  the  Mexicans,  for  ccrta;.nly  all  the 
professions  of  the  United  States  that  it 
doesn't  want  territory  would  be  put  to  a 
test,  and  Latin  America  would  be  not 
the  least  interested  spectator.  Would  the 
United  States  deliver  the  Government  in- 
to the  hands  of  the  "cientificos,"  the  old 
ruling  class?  If  that  was  done,  there 
would  be  peace  only  while  the  American 
forces  wore  on  Mexican  soil.  Revolution, 
which  had  been  interrupted  by  the 
American  intervention,  would  break  out 
anew. 

^         LCT     MEXICANS    WORK    IT    OUT. 

<The  revolution  has  been  baaed  on  prin- 
ciple. It  is  a  popular  contest  It  arises 
from  the  aspirations  of  a  people  to  self- 
mastery,  if  revolution  followed  Ameri- 
can intervention  until  the  people  really 
got  possession  of  their  own  Government, 
the  natural  question  is,  Why  not  let  the 
revolutionists,  who  have  finally  gotten 
the  upper  hand  now,  work  the  thing  out 
themselves?  It  not  only  saves  blood- 
shed, saves  millions  of  dollars,  and  does 
not  bring  into  question  before  Latin 
America  the  real  motives  of  the  United 
States  in  this  hemisphere,  but  it  makes 
Mexico  xolrc  her  own  problem.  By  so 
much  does  it  add  to  Mexico's  self-reliance 
in  having  patriotically  come  to  her  own 
rescue,  but  by  just  so  much  does  it  make 
the  successful  and  popular  Government 
that  arises  in  Mexico  the  real  friend  jf 
its  neighbor,  the  United  States — a  prac- 
tical  Pan -Americanism^/ 

Let  the  discussion  of  intervention  con- 
tinue on  theoretical  grounds.  Let  any  one 


who  doubts  Mexico's  national  spirit  make 
his  own  inquiries  here.  It  would  not  be 
an  armed  occupation  such  as  was  wit- 
nessed in  Cuba,  a  small  country,  easily 
traversed,  but  a  war  in  a  foreign  land,  in 
thousands  of  miles  of  desert,  among 
mountains,  and  among  a  strange  hostile 
people,  who  would  fight  to  the  death. 

President  Wilson's  policies  may  not 
have  been  popular  in  Mexico  because  of 
things  the  Mexicans  did  not  and  do  not 
yet  understand,  but  throughout  Mexico, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  the  impression  wa» 
strong  that  tho  election  of  Hughes  meant 
certain  intervention  and  war.  Never  be- 
fore in  the  memory  of  older  Mexicans 
has  there  been  such  interest  taken  in  an 
American  election.  One  of  the  Mexican 
newspapers  got  a  bulletin  service  from 
the  Associated  Press,  advertised  it  sev- 
eral days  in  advance,  and  on  the  night  of 
election  the  streets  were  jammed  for 
many  blocks. 

WILSON'S   POPULARITY  IN    MEXICO. 

The  Mexicans  bet  heavily  on  Wilson. 
They  seemed  to  think  he  ought  to  be 
elected  because  he  was  for  peace  with 
Mexico.  And  when  he  did  win,  the  exul- 
tation was  not  concealed.  An  American 
President  was  never  more  popular  in 
Mexico  than  when  Woodrow  Wilson  was 
finally  declared  reelected.  And  the  expec- 
tation that  Mr.  Wilson  will  keep  the  Unit- 
ed States  at  peace  with  Mexico  is  deeply 
ingrained.  He  has  a  great  deal  more 
influence  in  the  situation  "than  he  ever 
had.  He  has  a  more  powerful  instrument 
than  armed  intervention.  He  has  a  moral 
power  which,  if  properly  exercised,  can 
make  Mexico  understand  the  American 
spirit  and  the  American  people  in  such 
a  way  that  a  better  start  than  ever  be- 
fore can  be  made  to  remove  anti-Ameri- 
can feeling.  Hostility  to  the  American 
has  existed  here  ever  since  the  secession 
of  Texas  and  the  War  of  1848.  It  made 
Mexico  nationally  suspicious  of  the  Unit- 
I  states.  And  never  did  an  American 
l 'resident  have  such  an  opportunity  to 
reveal  America's  real  purposes  and  real 
motives  as  has  Woodrow  Wilson  to-day. 


120 


■HMMHHHHMIMMHMMnUHHaaBHHHMni 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  MEXICO 


IX. 


MEXICO'S  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY 


Difference   Between   de  Facto  and  de  Jure  Government  in 
Mexico  and  How  the  Constitutional  Order  Interrupted  by 
Huerta  is  Being  Restored— The  Outlook  as  to  Suffrage, 
'ale  and  Female. 


Queretaro,  Mexico,  December,  191 6. 


TO  most  people  in  the  United  States 
the  frank  admission  of  the  Carranza 
Government  that  it  is  not  operating 
I  under  the  Constitution  of  Mexico,  that 
It  is  not  the  legally  constituted  govern- 
ment of  the  republic,  would  seem  an  odd 
denial  of  Its  own  authority.  But  it  does 
not  pretend  to  be  a  constitutional  gov- 
ernment, and  it  never  did.  Gen.  Carranza 
and  his  party  obtained  recognition  as  a 
de  facto  Government.  They  never  asked 
to  be  considered  otherwise.  Only  when 
there  is  a  general  election,  which  will  be 
held  in  another  two  months;  will  a 
de  jure  Government  arise,  and  only  then 
will  the  country  resume  the  constitution- 
al order,  courts  of  justice,  and  regular 
legislative  and  executive  processes. 

The  word  "resume"  is  used  advisedly 
and  requires  a  retrospect.  The  Carranza 
party  never  recognized  Huerta  as  a  legal 
iKxecutive— nor  did  the  United  States. 
'Madero  was,  of  course,  legally  elected 
igt  1912  to  All  out  the  unexpired  term 
©f  Porriiio  Diaz,  which  would  have  been 
Utttil  10U.  Huerta's  coup  d'etat,  his  over- 
throw of  Madero,  therefore,  was  eonsid- 
e^Hk,  Carranza  and  his  adherents  as 
an  flferuptiou  of  the  constitutional 
regime  of  Madero.  In  fact,  the  Carranza 
n  volutloiifats  took  the  name  "Constitu- 
tionalists" and  maintain  it  still  as  a  sym- 
bol of  thetir  creed,  their  programme — to 
restore  constitutional  government  in  Mex- 
ico. The  first'  atep  was  to  get  military 
control  of  the  country— to  get  power. 
The  revolutionist! .succeeded  Their  or- 
ganization they  called  the  Co-nstitutional- 
ist  army,  and  Gen.  Carranza.  though  not 
a  military  man,  they  designated  in  a  con- 
ference of  leaders  held  at  Guadalupe  in 
191S,vas  First  Chief  of  the  Constitution- 
alist iMTmy  in  charge  of"  the  executive 
power.  'iTho  programme  of  that  confer- 
ence  has  Jjecome  famous  as  the  Plan  of 


Guadalupe.  It  called  for  the  formation 
of  a  Constituent  Assembly,  which  was 
to  revise  the  Constitution  and  arrange 
for  a  general  election  of  President  and 
Congress.  It  was  tried  out'  at  Mexico 
City  and  Aguascalientes  in  1914,  but  both 
conventions  were  failures  because  Fran- 
cisco Villa  and  his  brigades  of  the  Con- 
stitutionalist army  refused  to  permit 
them  to  be  carried  on  without  military 
duress/  And  the  separation  between 
Carranza  and  Villa  grew  out  of  the  con- 
tested procedure  at  those  conventions. 

THE    CONSTITUENT     ASSEMBLY. 

Now  Gen.  Carranza  and  his  followers 
have  succeeded  not  only  in  gaining  mili- 
tary control  of  all  but  one  of  the  states  of 
the  Republic — Chihuahua— but  the  First 
Chief  has  been  recognized  by  the  prin- 
cipal  nations  of  the   world  as  .the  Chief 

.  Executive  of  a  de  facto  Government.  Mr. 
Carranza  is  therefore  at  the  present  mo- 
ment carrying  forward  his  plans  for  res- 
toration of  constitutional  order  laid  two 
years  ago. 

The.  Constituent  Assembly  is  now  meet- 
ing.     Its    250    members      were      recently 

Sl  chosen  by  the  people  in  elections  which 
permitted  the  widest  freedom  of  discus- 
sion and  the  exercise  of  unrestricted  suf- 
frage. The  Assembly  is  modelled  closely 
after  that  which  followed  the  end  of  the 
French  Revolution.    The  Assembly's  work 

\  is  to  revise  the  Constitution  which  Mex- 
ico adopted  in  1857,  arrange  for  the  gen- 
eral elections  of  President  and  Congress, 
and  to  fix  the  date  for  the  resumption 
o?  constitutional  order.  As  soon  as  these 
things  are  done,  the  Assembly  auto- 
matically expires.  Some  of  the  mem- 
bers, no  doubt,  will  be  elected  as  regular 
Congressmen  and  Senators  when  the  gen- 
eral  elections  are   held   in   February   for 


the  new  Congress,   but  that,   of  course, 
rests  with  the  people. 

The  point  is  that  Mexico  at  last  is  get- 
ting back  on  the  foundations  of  law  and 
order  interrupted  by  Huerta's  illegal  and 
arbitrary  overthrow  of  Madero.  Strictly 
speaking,  the  United  States  need  not  have 
recognized  the  Carranza  Government  un- 
ti'.  it  established  a  de  jure  Government, 
but  in  the  nature  of  things  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  Carranza  party  as  a  de  facto 
Government  was  in  accord  with  the  ac- 
cepted principles  of  International  law,  be- 
cause the  Carranza  party,  having  gained 
military  supremacy,  really  possessed  the 
elements  of  sovereignty  in  the  country. 
Sovereignty,  according  to  both  ancient 
and  modern  political  theory,  resides  al- 
ways In  the  people,  and  when  their  desig- 
nated spokesman — the  President,  or  king 
— abuses  his  power,  they  rebel.  The  tri- 
umphant revolutionary  party  in  effect  re- 
covers possession  of  the  sovereignty,  the 
power  previously  abused,  and  then  makes 
up  its  own  mind  to  what  man  or  group 
of  men  the  authority  should  thereafter 
b.%  delegated. 

PURPOSE  OF  THE   ASSEMBLY. 

The  Constituent  Assembly's  purpose  is 
to  construct  on  behalf  of  the  people  a 
new  government,  to  give  it  a  revised  Con- 
stitution, and  really  procreate  a  legal 
Executive,  a  legal  Congress,  and  a  judici- 
ary of  lawful  origin. 

The  Assembly  has  had  under  consid- 
eration all  the  decrees  and  acts  of  Citi- 
zen Carranza,  First  Chief  of  the  Consti- 
tutionalist army,  in  charge  of  the  execu- 
tive power.  In  his  speech  to  the  As- 
sembly, he  gave  an  account  of  his  cus- 
todianship of  the  executive  power.  Some 
of  these  acts  will  he  incorporated  in  the 
revised  Constitution,  being  embodied  in 
new  principles  of  authority,  and  others 
will  be  given  the  sanction  of  law  when 
the  new  Congress  meets. 

The  Constitution  will  not  be  completed 
for  another  month.  It  is  an  interesting 
document,  as  tentatively  drawn,  a  rather 
rrogressive  chart  of  rights.  Take,  for 
instance,  the  woman  suffrage  article 
which  it  is  being  proposed  shall  be  In- 
cluded in  the  Constitution.  All  women 
would  not  be  permitted  to  vote  but  only 
unmarried  women  who  are  occupied^  i  i 
professional  work — such  as  the  law,  medi- 
cine, teaching,  bookkeeping,  stenography, 
etc. — but  not  in  manual  labor.  The 
daughters  of  wealthy  people  would  not 
be  permitted  to  vote,  the  theory  bein~ 
that  they  are  dependent  on  others  who  / 
exercise  a  voice  in  the  community.  Sim- 
ilarly, the  moment  any  of  these  young 
women,  who  are  entitled  to  vote  because 
they  are  self-supporting,  become  married, 
they  lose  their  franchise,  as  the  husband 
thereafter  can  vote  for  the  family.  The 
argument  that  is  making  •  headway  in 
the  Assembly  is  that,  if  an  ignorant  day- 


V?A) 


laborer  can  vote,  certainly  a  school  teach- 
er in  the  same  community  ought  to  have 
the   right  of  suffrage. 

8UFFRAGS  RESTRICTIONS   LIKKLT. 

Eventually,  of  course,  not  every  day- 
laborer  will  be  permitted  to  vote.  Revo- 
lution, however,  sprung  from  the  people 
wouldn't  dark  to  incorporate  any  restric- 
tions on  voting  in  the  Constitution  at 
present,  but,  after  a  time,  perhaps  a  few 
years,  doubtless  before  the  1920  election, 
suffrage  will  be  restricted  to  those  in  the 
republic  who  can  read  and  write,  and 
women  of  all  classes  may  then  be  grant- 
ed  suffrage. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe,  however, 
that  the  membe'rs  of  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly are  anxious  to  put  at  the  disposal 
of  the  republic  the  intelligent  voters  so 
that  public  opinion  will  rule,  so  that  it 
will  be  impossible  for  a  military  dic- 
tator to  drive  thousands  of  ignorant 
peons  to  the  polls  through  local  military 
commanders  to  vote  a  certain  way  under 
penalty  of  arrest  and  other  punishments 
in  vogue  in  the  days  of  Diaz. 

Much  interest  was  taken  in  the  elec- 
tion of  Deputies  to  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly. There  was  plenty  of  rivalry,  and 
it  looked  for  a  time  as  if  Gerzayn  Ugarte, 
Oarranza's  own  private  secretary,  might 
not  be  elected  from  his  Congressional  .iis- 
trict  in  Mexico  City.  Not  so  many  vote3 
were  cast  in  the  general  elections  for 
Constituent  Assembly,  but  the  interest 
taken  was  greater  than  in  any  previous 
election,  and  an  indication  that,  although 
the  triumph  of  Mr.  Carranza  is  a  fore- 
gone conclusion,  there  will  be  spirited 
contests  for  places  in  the  new  Congress 
as  well  as  for  Governorships.  Indeed,  in 
the  state  of  San  Luis  Potosi,  eight  men 
have  announced  themselves  as  candidates 
for  .  Governor,  and  since  there  are  no 
primaries,  the  one  receiving  the  highest 
number  of  votes  in  the  election  will  be 
declared  elected.  At  the  same  time  that 
elections  for  the  national  Congress  and 
Governors. of  states  are  held,  the  people 
will  vote  for  members  of  the  State  Leg- 
islatures, every  one  of  which  is  to  be 
constitutionally  organized. 

NATIONAL  HOUSE-CLEANING. 

It  is  a    constitutional     house-cleaning 


that  the  Carranza  party  has  brought 
about — a  revolution  in  every  sense  of 
the  word.  And  just  now  Mexico  is  in 
the  midst  of  these  organizing  processes. 
Within  two  months  the  elections  will  be 
held,  the  date  has  not  yet  been  set,  but 
inasmuch  as  the  inauguration  of  Presi- 
dent is  fixed  for  April  1,  everybody  ex- 
pects the  elections  to  be  held  in  Feb- 
ruary or  March.  The  campaigns  already 
have  begun  in  some  states.  The  Constit- 
uent Assembly  is  to  fix  the^date  for  the 
elections,  and  make  all  the  arrange- 
ments.. 

Why  is  the  Constituent  Assembly  be- 
ing held  in'Querdtaro?  For  sentimental 
reasons,  chiefly.  Here  in  this  quaint 
town  ended  the  dictatorship  of  Emperor 
Maximilian,  th^  invader.  On  a  lonely 
hill,  a  mile  from  the  city,  an  ancient 
chapel  marks  the  historic  spot  where 
Maximilian  was  executed  in  186  r.  The 
Mexicans  consider  that  their  era  of  lib- 
^  erty,  their  emancipation,  began  then. 
They  feel  inspired  that  another  era  of 
liberty  will  begin  with  the  revision  of 
'he  Constitution  here,  and  arrangements 
for  a  resumption  of  the  constitutional 
regime. 

Querdtaro  also  was  chosen  because  it 
is  a  quiet  place,  lacking  in  diversion  or 
distraction.  The  Assemblymen  can  be 
the  more  easily  kept  at  work.  Given  a 
lot  of  theatres  and  amusements  such  as 
Mexico  City  has,  the  Assembly  might 
have  by  now  hardly  started  its  labors. 
As  it  is,  the  Assembly  has  divided  into 
numerous  committees  and  is  moving 
ahead  with  an  air  of  sober  confidence. 

As  a  whole,  the  Congress  doesn't  look 
very  intellectual,  but  thei^  that  distinc- 
tion is  not  always  vouchsafed  to  Con- 
gressmen In  the  United  States  either. 
Actually  there  are  about  fifteen  men 
Vin  the  250,  who  really  can  be  said  to 
lead,  which  is  a  good  percentage  as  Mex- 
ican legislatures  go  at  any  time,  normal 
or  abnormal.  Of  course  a  higher  grade 
of  Mexican  will  sit  in  the  new  Congress. 
The  men  chosen  for  the  Assembly  were 
in  each  instance  pronounced  Constitu- 
tionalists, men  known  to  be  in  thorough 
sympathy  with  the  principles  of  the 
Revolution. 
\  The  military  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  Constituent  Assembly.    Few  soldiers 


are  bivouacked  In  town — simply  a  police 
garrison.  The  first  two  weeks  of  sessions 
were  secret  while  credentials  were  ex- 
amined. The  only  outsiders  admitted 
were  from  the  press.  The  discussion  was 
mostly  about  personalities.  I  was  pres- 
ent one  day  when  two  officers  strolled  in, 
thinking  the  meetings  were  public.  One 
Deputy  made  a  point  of  order  and  the 
military  were  politely  asked  to  leave — 
which  they  did  with  apologies. 

FREEDOM    OF    DEBATE. 

The  Assembly  meets  in  the  Queretaro 
Theatre,  a  typical  opera  house  *  of  the 
size  which  a  city  of  50,000  would  be  ex- 
pected to  have.  Its  seating  capacity,  bal- 
conies and  all,  would  not  exceed  500.  It 
is  an  orderly  Assembly,  but  the  utmost 
freedom  of  debate  has  characterized  the 
sessions.  Mr.  Carranza  himself  has  ap- 
peared before  it  only  once,  when  he  read 
his  address,  but  since  then  the  leaders 
have  been  in  consultation  with  him,  as 
happens  in  the  United  States.  But  in 
reality,  the  Assembly  is  laying  down  the 
law.  It  may  not  be  an  imposing-looking 
affair,  but  the  members  know  what  they 
want.  They  know  the  loopholes  in  the 
old  Constitution  of  1857,  whereby  dicta- 
torships were  established  and  the  rights 
of  the  people  wrested  from  them.  They 
are  deliberately  closing  up  those  holes 
how  and  moulding  a  democracy,  a  gov- 
ernment suited  to  Mexican  conditions  of 
life,  a  government  for  which  they  have 
shed  much  blood. 

They  have  suffered  extremely  in  order 
to  get  the  opportuhity  of  reform  wb 
they   have   to-day.     Their   eyes  are 
focussed   on'  international   obligations 
yet    They  are  intensely  absorbed  in  tl 
internal    problems.     That's   why   forei*.. 
nations  are  a  bit  impatient  of  what  seems 
to   them    Mexico's    slow    progress.     It   is 
as  fast,  however,  as  can  be  humanly  ex- 
pected, but  the  prodding  by  foreign  Gov- 
ernments won't  do  any  harm.    It  ought  to 
quicken    the    Mexican    leaders   and    keep 
them  conscious  of  the  breadth  of  their 
task   as  well   as  the   breakers     that     lie 
ahead  of  them.     Eternal     vigilance,     de- 
manded for  the  succens  of  individuals,  is 
not  less  the  obligation  of  friendly  Govern- 
ments. 


\Zi) 


— ■— — Mil  I — 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


X. 


EDUCATIONAL  REFORM 


Each  State  Controls  Education,  but  Plans  Being  Laid  to  Co- 
ordinate System— Sending  Mexicans  to  United  States  to 
Study  Aids  International  Amity — Many  Thousands  of 
Children  Have  No  Schooling  Whatever. 


Mexico  City,  December,  1916. 


AS  you  travel  across  the  Rio  Grande, 
you  are  immediately  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  you  have  turned 
the  pages  of  history  back  a  century  or 
two — you  are  in  the  midst  of  a  primitive 
civilisation.  It  is  not  that  the  complexion 
of  the  people  or  their  habits  of  life  are 
different.  It  is  that  millions— literally 
millions — of  those  around  you  can  neither 
read  nor  write,  and  out  of  a  population 
of  16,000.000  at  least  two  million  still 
speak  Indian  dialects  and  communicate 
crudely  with  their  countrymen. 

Mexico's  greatest  problem  is  how  to 
educate  her  Illiterate  masses— ^for  an  un- 
derlying ignorance  is  always  a  potential 
source  of  revolution. 

Opening  schools  and  planning  a  uni- 
form system  of  education  that  will  take 
hold  throughout  the  republic  is  neither  a 
spectacular  nor  dramatic  affair.  It 
doesn't  get  headlines.  But  while  in 
Mexico  to-day  it  would  seem  that  im- 
provement of  living  conditions,  and  a 
stabilisation  of  the  central  Government 
were  the  most  pressing  and  urgent  things  , 
to  be  done,  It  is  gratifying  nevertheless 
to  discover 'that  First  Chief  Carranza  Is  , 
personally  iuwlstin.i;  in  educational  re- 
form in  Mexico,  is  directing  that  liberal 
appropriations  from  the  funds  of  the 
central  Governn&ent  be  made  for  teach- 
ers' salaries  and  new  school*,  and  is  also 
supervising  the  expenditures  as  much  as 
possible  so  that  there  may  be  no  waste. 

Andres  Osuna,  who  Is  general  super- 
intendent of  education  in  Mexico  City 
and  Is  an  intimate  friend  of  the  First 
Chief,  having  been  at  the  head  of  the 
board  of  Education  in  the  latter's  native 
state — Coahuila — makes  it  his  business 
to  consult  the  First  r-nief  af  least  twice  a. 
week.  The  more  one  digs  into  things 
here,  the  more  one  finds  that  Venustiano 
Carranza   has   upon   his   shoulders   Innu- 


merable burdens.  And  how  he  man- 
ages to  do  as  well  as  he  does  with  some 
of  the  inefficient  men  be  has  to  deal 
with,  who  have  not  yet  learned  the  fun- 
damentals of  service,  is  indeed  a  mystery. 

BOITATED   IN    THE   UNITED    STATES. 

It  is  fitting  that  a  man  like  Andres 
Osuna  should  be  at  the  right  hand  of 
Carranza  in  educational  matters.  Osuna, 
of  course,  has  the  confidence  of  the  First 
Chief.  He  also  is  thoroughly  familiar 
with  American  systems  of  education,  both 
in  the  primary  and  secondary  schools  and 
colleges,  being  himself  a  graduate  of 
Bridgewater  Normal  School,  at  Bridge- 
water,  Mass..  and  having  received  B.A. 
and  M.A.  degrees  at  Vanderbilt  Univer- 
sity, Nashville.  Tenn.  He  has  lived  for 
many  years  in  the  United  States  and 
knows  the  value  of  the  American  plan  of 
education. 

While  most  Mexicans  look  suspiciously 
on  all  plans  for  cooperation  with  the 
United  States.  Osuna  has  no  such  fear. 
H~  is  in  constant  correspondence  with 
educators  in  the  United  States,  seeking 
for  Mexico  the  best  that  it  is  possible  to 
get  for  existing  conditions  in  the  dis- 
turbed republic.  Perhaps  the  most  inter- 
esting development  in  this  line  is  the 
splendid  effort  of  Stanley  Yarnell,  of  the 
Friends'  School,  Philadelphia,  who  has 
launched  a  plan  for  university  scholar- 
ships in  leading  universities  and  colleges 
in  the  United  States  for  deserving  Mexi- 
can students.  Already  about  fifteen  to 
eighteen  scholarships  have  been  obtained, 
and  nearly  twenty  other  colleges  have 
endorsed  the  plan.  Some  institutions 
have  offered  full  scholarships,  board, 
tuition,  and  all.  Oth.-rs  have  given  tuitio.i 
and  suggested  opportunities  for  student 
self-support.  Catalogues  and  literature 
from   American   colleges   have   been   sent 


to  the  Department  of  Education  here  for 
general  distribution,  and  altogether  the 
Mexicans  are  quite  enthusiastic  about  the 
plan. 

Already,  too,  Gen.  Carranza  has  given 
his  consent  for  a  delegation  of  Mexican 
teachers  tq  accept  the  invitation  gener- 
ously extended  by  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  Teachers  to  attend  their  meeting 
in  the  United  States  in  June.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  vacation  for  schools  in  Mexi- 
co comes  in  January  and  February,  so  It 
will  be  difficult  to  obtain  leave  of  ab- 
sence for  many  teachers,  but  at  least 
twenty-five  will  make  the  trip. 

MEXICAN     SCHOOL     REGISTRATION. 

Mexico's  school  registration  Is  far  be- 
low what  it  ought  to  be.  Based  on  per- 
centage estimates  in  the  United  States, 
there  ought  to  be  in  a  place  .like  Mexico 
City  at  least  150,000  children  In  school; 
but  there  are  only  120,000.  Thirty  thou- 
sand boys  and  girls,  therefore,  have  never 
attended  school.  It  is  a  nucleus  of  igno- 
rance— an  ultimate  instrument  for  revo- 
lution and  bloodshed  or  banditry  or  other 
lawlessness.  In  Michoacan,  which  has  1,- 
000,000  inhabitants,  there  ought  to  be  at 
least  150,000  in  attendance,  but  only  60,- 
000  are  registered.  Figures  for  the  en- 
tire nation,  taken  in  1910,  when  Diaz  was 
in  power,  show  that  only  1,000,000  chil- 
dren were  In  school,  out  of  a  total  pop- 
ulation of  15,000,000,  which  should  send 
3,000,000.  or  at  least  2,000,000  to  school. 

The  Diaz  Government  did  not  believe 
in  spreading  common-school  education. 
There  was  no  system.  Even  Mexico  City 
was  never  divided  Into  school  wards,  and 
sometimes  there  were  two  and  three 
schools  in  the  same  block.  Sanitation 
was  neglected.  All  this  has  now  been 
changed.  Not  only  has  the  city  been  di- 
vided tnto  districts,  with  a  superintend- 
ent directly  responsible  for  each  district, 
but  special  attention  has  been  given  to 
the  health  of  the  children  tnd  the  sani- 
tation of  buildings.  A  board  of  physicians 
— fifteen  is  all — has  been  organised, 
who.  together  with  twenty-six  nurses, 
make  constant  rounds  in  the,  schools. 
Also,  at  least  fifteen  male  teachers,  whose 
Irregular  habits  did  not.  in  the  opinion  of 
the  general  superintendent,  make  them 
fit  to  teach  the  young,  have  been  dismiss- 
ed. 

The  curious  thing  about  education  in 
Mexico  since  the,  re  volution  began  In  1S11 
is  that  the  schools  have  never  been  closed 
by  any  faction.  For  a  time  In  the  state 
of  Morelos,  overrun  by  Zapatistas,  It  was 
dangerous  for  any  employee  of  the  state 
Government  to  be  about,  and  It  was  im- 
possible to  send  salaries  to  the  teachers. 
Classes  were  suspended,  but  as  soon  as 
the  civil  authorities  were  able  to  recover 
possession  of  the  cities,  schools  were 
promptly  reopened. 


IZO 


I 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


TEACHERS    IN    DEMAND.  \ 

Some  splendid  things  have  been  done 
to  forward  education  in  the  state  of 
Yucatan,  from  300  to  400  new  schools  hav- 
ing been  opened  there.  A  few  new  schools 
have  been  established  in  Mexico  City, 
but  lack  of  financial  resources  has  been 
a  severe  handicap.  There  are  78,000  chil- 
dren enrolled  In  the  450  primary  schools 
and  93,000  in  the  private  schools  of  the 
capital. 

Teachers  are  in  demand.  The  Carranza 
Government  has  raised  the  salaries  of 
male  instructors  25  per  cent.,  in  order  to 
attract  men  of  education  to  pedagogy. 
From  five  to  six  million  dollars  of  Mex- 
ican gold  ($2,500,000  to  J3.000.000  in 
American  money)  has  been  spent  by  the 
Carranza  Government  in  each  of  its  two 
years  of  Governmental  control  over  the 
schools.  And.  in  spite  of  the  pressure 
of  other  things,  Gen.  Carranza  has  found 
time  to  visit  the  schools  regularly— in 
fact,  he  has  visited  them  already  more 
times  than  did  any  Executive  or  Minis-  1 
ter  of  Public  Instruction  before  him. 

Unfortunately,    the    need    for    economy 
has  forced  the  closing  of  one  large  normal 
school  here.     The  Government  had  been 
spending  $87,500  in  American  money  for 
the  support  of  a  school  which  had  only 
130  students.     So  it  was  decided  to  take 
$20,000  of  this  money  and  send  these  130 
students  to  normal  schools  in  other  cities, 
paying  all  their  expenses,  and  yet  sav- 
ing  $57,000  by  closing  down   the    normal 
school  in  the  capital.    Teachers,  as  a  rule, 
don't  want  to  go  to  normal  schools  outside 
of  the   cities,  but  the  Carranza  Govern- 
ment is  about  to  establish  sectional  nor- 
mal   schools,    so    that    teachers    will    be 
drawn  from  them  for  surrounding  rural 
communities.     Puebla,  Vera  Cruz.  Guada- 
lajara    and     Jalisco     have     fine     normal 
schools.    Some  of  the  normal-school  grad- 
uates who   stand   highest   in   their   work 
will  be  sent  to  the  United  States  for  post- 
graduate work.     Six  are  now  in  Massa- 
chusetts, studying  at  the  expense  of  the 
Carranza  AdmiAist ration— two    at    Wor- 
cester, one  at  Bridgewater,  and  three  at 
Boston. 

WANTS    UNIFORMITY   OF  SYSTEM. 

Essentially  the  problem  of  education  in 
S  \    Mexico  as  In  the  United  States  is  in  the 


hands  of  state  authorities.  States'  rights 
is  Constitutionalist  doctrine  here.  Gen. 
Carranza  many  years* ago  while  Governor 
of  Coahuila  engaged  in  a  long  contro- 
versy with  the  central  Government  as 
to  the  right  of  the  state  of  Coahuila  to 
run  its  own  educational  system  without 
interference  by  the  Federal  authorities. 
He  still  stands  for  that  principle,  but  rec- 
ognizes the  value  of  informal  cooperation' 
and  the  need  for  uniformity  in  system. 
He  hopes  to  obtain  this,  however,  through 
the  unanimous  approval  by  the  state*,  of 
the  plans  now  being  unofficially  recom- 
mended to  the  different  Governors. 

Osuna,    who   was   at   the    head    of   the 
School  Department  of  the  state  of  Coa- 
huila for  many   years,  Is  the  author  of 
the    plan    which    has    been    approved    in 
principle,  though  not  in  detail,  by  First 
Chief  Carransa.     Its  object  is  to  divorce 
the  schools  from  politics.  Instead  of  hav- 
ing one  man  at  the  head  of  the  educa- 
tional machinery  of  every  state,  Osunas 
proposal  is  to   substitute   state  and  mu- 
nicipal  boards  of  education.     The  mem- 
bers would  be  chosen  by  the  governors  of 
the    city    councils,    respectively.      Of    the 
Ave  members  of  each  board,  one   would 
hold  office  for  a  single  year,  a  second  for 
two  years,  a  third  for  three  years,  and 
so  on,  so  that  there  would  be  but  one  va- 
cancy   each   year,    and   political    changes 
would  not  so  easily  affect  the  continuity 
of  educational  work.     There  would  be,  of 
course,  a  general  superintendent  and  as- 
sistants, but  these  men  would  be  select- 
ed by  the  state  of  municipal  boards  and 
would  map  out  courses  of  study  and  sub- 
mit   textbooks   for    the    approval    of    the 
governing  boards.  - 


MN1NO    UP    STATE    GOVERNORS. 


In  the  United  States  many  cities  have 
solved  the  problem  of  education  versus 
local  politics  by  abandoning  the  electoral 
method  of  choosing  a  superintendent  of 
schools  and  appointing  a  non-partisan 
school  board  to  supervise  the  entire  sys- 
tem for  a  city.  In  Mexico,  particularly, 
where  school-teachers  occasionally  get 
prominent  in  local  politics,  it  is  desirable 
to  remove  their  positions  as  far  as  pos- 
sible from  the  political  spoilsmen.  The 
Massachusetts  plan  of  selecting  superin- 


28 


tendents  by  examination  ia  a  conspicuous 
part  of  Mr.  Osuna's  plan.    He  has  written 
a   long   prospectus  on   the  whole   thing, 
and  Is  soon  to  make  a  tour  of  the  coun- 
try   urging    the    different    governors    to 
adopt  the  plan  he  has  sponsored.  He  has 
asked  the  governors  to  convene  a  com- 
mittee of  the  educators  of  each  state  so 
that  he  may  present  the  merits  of  the 
plan.      Of    course,    the    Federal    Govern- 
ment is  interested  in  the  adoption  of  the 
plan,  but  each  state  will  of  course  have 
the  right  to  reject  the  same  if  it  desires- 
Mr.   Osuna  hopes  to  persuade  the   state 
authorities  to  make  permanent  provision 
for    educational    funds.      Hitherto,    there 
has  been  appropriation  only  when  a  sur- 
plus   existed   in   state   revenues.     He   la 
suggesting  that  each  state  fix  by  law  that 
a   certain    percentage   of   the  income   be 
applied  for  educational  needs. 

Mexico's  educational  future  is,  theo- 
retically speaking,  a  bright  one.  The  de- 
sire to  educate  is  a  sincere  one,  but  the 
only  question  is  how  funds  are  to  be  ob- 
tained with  the  Government  so  desperate- 
ly in  need  of  money  for  military  and 
other  administrative  purposes  of  prime 
importance. 

■STABUSHINQ    INTERNATIONAL   AMITT. 

It  ia  a  marvellous  thing  that  out  of  lta 
limited  funds,  the  Constitutionalist  Gor- 
ernment  has  been  able  not  only  to  keep 
the  schools  going  but  actually  to  open 
new  ones  and  show  conspicuous  prog- 
ress in  so  many  localities.  But  the  work 
is  hardly  begun.  Millions  of  children 
are  not  yet  in  schools,  and  it  will  probably 
be  another  year  before  this  phase  of  Mei- 
ico's  reconstruction  will  get  the  attention 
it  deserves. 

On  the  whole,  the  efforts  of  the  Con- 
stitutionalist Government  in  educational 
lines  have  borne  much  fruit.  And  the 
willingness  to  send  Mexican  young  men 
and  women  north  of  the  Rio  Grande  to 
study  is  not  the  least  important  part  of 
it  all.  These  future  principals  and  su- 
perintendents should  be  effective  mission- 
aries for  the  cause  of  international  amity, 
i -lose  cooperation  between  the  educators 

of  the  United  s£ates  and  Mexico  will  do 

a  great  deal  toward  making  the  people* 
of  the  two  countries  sincere  friends. 


IZO 


■       -■   V    .     '■>  ■      '     sV    '--"■ 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


XI. 


VENUSTIANO  CARRANZA— THE  MAN 


Some  Aspects  of  His  Political  Philosophy— T^e  Struggle  for 
Individual  Liberty  as  Opposed  to  Oligarchy— Preach- 
ments Based  on  Experience  with  Diaz  Group. 


Queretaro,  Mex.,  December,  1916. 


WHAT  kind  of  a  man  is  Gen.  Car- 
ranza? Does  he  hate  Americans, 
does  he  breathe  anti-Americanism 
at  you,  does  he  grow  furious  over  the 
prolonged  stay  of  the  Pershing  expedi- 
tion; in  short,  is  he  reasonable  at  all.  is 
he  the  kind  of  man  that  ought  to  be 
President  of  a  republic?  These  questions 
flitted  through  my  mind  as  I  strolled 
toward  the  house  of  the  First  Chief  for 
an  interview.  They  were  questions  which, 
I  knew,  issued  from  the  curiosity  of  the 
average  American,  but  on  which  any  one 
who  had  had  the  opportunity  of  really 
knowing  the  First  Chief  could  not  have 
the  slightest  doubt. 

Six  years  ago,  just  this  month,   I  met 
Venustiano   Carranza  for   the   first  time. 
He    was    in    Washington    incognito.      He 
was    a    Senator    in    the    Congress    under 
Diaz,  but  fled  the  capital  to  join  the  Ma- 
dero    revolution.     He  was  of  impressive 
presence,    tall,    characteristically    slow   of 
..  speech,   serious — almost  solemn.     I  have 
seen  him  many  times  since,  but  I  doubt 
Hfcftether  he  ever  looked  the  part  of  Chief 
Executive    of   a    republic    more    than    he 
did  to-day      He  is  big.  broad-shouldered, 
firm    of    grip,    his   face    browned    by    the 
sun,  .'■Ijtii  eyes  lialf-obscured  by  his  heavy 
blue    ftfjjictaek's  —a    strong-looking,    erect 
figure.  And  as  1  stepped  forward  to  shake 
hands  he  Smiled,     it  was  a  sympathetic 
smile,  yet  as  he  rose,  he  plainly  showed 
fatigue.     He  had  been  sit  it  from  5  A.  M. 
He  had  seen  ^constant  .stream  of  callers 
from  all   parU'ii  the   republic.     He  had 
dispatched  a   mass  of  domestic  business, 
and   he   had   spent   two   hours  discussing 
with  Alberto  Pani  f$& -international  situ- 
ation   as    it  was    being    handled    by  the 
joint    Mexk  an-Amerlcan    Commission. 

WANTS  TO  bf;  fkiendlx  WITH   VS. 
Wetalked  a  long  time.    The  First  Chief 
gives,    of    cnu-.se,    the    usual    stereotyped 
interview  of  prepared   questions  and  an- 


swers, but  sometimes  he  will  talk  freely 
with  the  understanding  that  he  is  speak- 
ing privately,  and  not  for  quotation.  I 
carried  away  the  impression  that  he 
wanted  to  be  friendly  with  the  United 
States,  but  that  he  didn't  dare  be  so.  no 
matter  how  advantageous  it  might  seem, 
until  the  American  troops  were  with- 
drawn from  Mexican  soil.  I  told  him  out- 
forces  had  been  anxious  for  some  time 
to  leave,  provided  the  Commission  could 
come  to  some  agreement  about  it,  that 
hardly  anybody  in  the  United  States 
wanted  the  Pershing  expedition  to  re- 
main, and  that  public  opinion  favored 
the  withdrawal,  and  had  left  the  whole 
business  to  the  Commission  to  arrange. 
The  First  Chief  looked  at  me  with  an 
expression  which,  translated  into  words, 
meant :  "I'd  like  to  believe  you,  but  I've 
heard  that  story  before."  For  the  fact 
of  the  matter  is,  the  Mexicans  do  not 
trust  the  United  States,  they  don't  real- 
ly put  any  faith  in  our  promises,  and  if 
you  are  alone  with  them,  in  their  con- 
fidence, under  circumstances  which  will 
draw  from  them  their  private  opinions,  you 
will  discover  that,  however  unintentional 
it  may  have  been  on  the  part  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  the  American  Government  has 
made  some  moves  which  to  the  Mexicans 
look  very  suspicious.  Jumping  into  Mex- 
ico without  even  asking  the  permission 
of  the  dr  facto  Government,  and  then 
apologizing  for  the  "error"  may  have 
become  stale  news  in  the  United  States, 
but  it  still  rankles  here.  And  again,  the 
statement  issued  by  the  Secretary  of  War 
at  the  direction  of  President  Wilson,  a 
day  or  two  after  the  Pershing  expedi- 
tion was  ordered  into  Mexico,  and  say- 
ing the  American  forces  would  be  with- 
drawn as  soon  as  sufficient  Government 
forces  arrived  on  the  scene  to  take  con- 
trol of  the  situation,  is  remembered  for 
its  non-fulfilment.  Enough  Mexican 
forces  were  soon  concentrated     in     that 


vicinity,  but  the  American  troops  kept 
on  and  on  toward  Parral,  disregarding 
the  Mexican  Government's  efforts  to  put 
some  limitation  on  the  pursuit.  The  Car- 
ranza Government  had  feared  that  Vil- 
la's game  was  to  draw  the  American 
forces  through  the  sparsely  populated 
regions  all  the  way  to  the  City  of  Mex- 
ico, and  thereby  precipitate  a  general 
war. 

KEEPS     HIS    WORD. 

Gen.  Carranza  is  not  narrow.  He  is 
simply  the  inflexible  kind  who,  when  he 
gives  his  word,  keeps  it,  and  when  you 
give  him  your  word,  expects  you  to  keep 
it.  He  wants  to  know  why  the  Pershing 
expedition  has  stayed  so  long  on  Mexi- 
can soil,  what  has  it  been  doing  for  the 
last  three  months,  and  why  must  Mexico 
be  forced  into  the  humiliating  position 
of  promising  a  score-  of  things  in  order 
to  rid  her  territory  of  foreign  troops  who 
by  no  right  of  international  law.  can 
occupy  the  soil  of  a  nation  with  whom 
relations  of  peace  exist  unless  specific 
consent  therefor  is  given.  And  certain- 
ly Mexico  never  consented  to  the  entry 
of  (he  Pershing  expedition.  That  is  his 
viewpoint.  ». 

But  while  Gen.  Carranza  was  in  a 
more  or  less  you-must-show-me  attitude, 
somewhat  skeptical  that  the  United 
States  was  really  sincere  about  withdraw- 
ing Pershing  since  it  had  entangled  the 
Commission  with  so  many  other  ques- 
tions which  it  was  his  understanding 
would  not  be  discussed  while  American 
troops  were  on  Mexican  soil,  neverthe- 
less I  really  believe  that  If  the  United 
States,  by  its  acts,  showed  a  genuine 
friendship  for  Mexico,  it  would  have  in 
Venustiano    Carranza   a    real   friend. 

The  First  Chief  is  no  ordinary  indi- 
vidual. None  but  a  man  of  his  fibre 
could  have  kept  his  motley  forces  In-  / 
tact  for  a  whole  year  without  funds, 
without  much  support  from  foreign  gov- 
ernments, with  internal  intrigue,  with 
graft,  with  bad  crops,  and  with  economic 
conditions  of  a  distressing  character.  He 
is  a  type  of  Mexican  statesman  of  the 
old  cultured  class  in  Mexico,  long  in 
public  life,  yet  thoroughly  progressive 
and  liberal  in  his  views.  Probably  the 
best  exposition  of  his  political  philosophy 
was  contained  in  his  opening  address  to 
the  Constituent  Assembly  here,  which  Is 
now  revising  the  Constitution.  It  was 
not  fully  reported  in  the  newspapers  be- 
cause cable'  tolls  were  high,  but  it  gives 
as  good  an  insight  into  Venustiano  Car- 
ranza as  anything  he  has  ever  written 
or  spoken.  It  was  a  speech  of  9,000 
words,  but  I  have  selected  some  excerpts 
here  which  illustrate  the  breadth  of  vis- 
ion of  the  man,  his  liberalism,  his  keen 
desire  to  rid  the  people  of  dictatorships 
and  tyrannical  oligarchies — his  creed  of 
democracy.     He  said  In  part: 


20 


HIS    REFORM    PLANS. 

"I  cannot  say  to  you  that  the  project 
I  present  to  you  is  perfect,  as  nothing 
human  can  be  perfect;  but,  believe  me, 
gentlemen,  the  reforms  I  propose  are  the 
outcome  of  sincere  conviction,  personal 
experience,  and  the  expression  of  my 
deep  and  ardent  wish  that  the  Mexican 
people  may  attain  to  an  enjoyment  of 
liberty,  education,  enlightenment,  and 
progress  which  will  earn  It  respect  abroad 
and  peace  at  home.  Gentlemen,  I  will 
summarize  the  reforms  to  which  I  re- 
fer,'in  order  to  give  you  a  brief  and  clear 
idea  of  the  principles  that  have  guided 
me,  so  that  you  may  decide  whether  I 
have  attained  the  object  I  have  had  be- 
fore me.  The  object  of  every  Govern- 
ment being  to  protect  the  individual — that 
is  to  say,  the  varied  elements  in  society 
which  go  to  make  up  the  whole,  unques- 
tionably the  first  requisite  to  be  filled  by 
a  political  constitution  must  be  the  pro- 
tection given  to  individual  liberty. 

"The1  Constitution  of  a  nation  should 
not  seek,  if  it  is  to  be  long-lived,. to  estab- 
lish artificial  restrictions  between  the 
state  and  the  individual,  as  if  it  were  de- 
sired to  increase  free  action  on  one  part 
and  limit  it  on  the  other,  in  such  a  way 
that  what  is  granted  to  one  shall  be  a 
condition  for  the  protection  of  the  other, 
but  should  seek  to  arrange  matters  so 
that  the  authority  given  by  the  people 
to  their  representatives  (seeing  that  the 
people  cannot  exercise  such  authority  di- 
rectly) be  not  used  aaainst  the  society 
or  public  which  appoints  it,  and  whose 
rights  must  remain  intact.  Because  wo 
must  not  for  a  moment  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that  a  government  is  necessarily  a 
means  towards  realizing  all  conditions 
without  which  human  rights  cannot  exist 
and  develop.  Starting  out  with  this  fun- 
damental conception,  social  institutions 
will  then  be  assigned  their  real  value,  and 
a  suitable  course  will  be  given  to  the 
exercise  of  the  public  powers  whereby 
social  and  political  habits  and  customs 
will  be  determined. 

"Government  procedure  up  to  the  pres- 
ent has  not  been  able  to  establish  itself, 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  Mexican  peo- 
ple have  not  believed  in  a  social  pact 
that  placed  all  political  organization  in 
the  divine  origin  of  a  monarch,  a  master 
of  life  and  property.  They  have  relied 
on  institutions  which,  although  embody- 
ing high  principles,  are  not  adapted  to 
their  manner  of  thinking  and  feeling,  and 
are  fir  from  satisfying  their  needs.  These 
institutions  at  present  completely  lack 
vitality,  because  they  have  been  dominat- 
ed by  an  enervating  ijhllitary  despotism 
and  by  iniquitous  exploitation,  which  has 
thrown  the  most  populous  classes  into 
dejpair  and  ruin. 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 

FOR    INDIVIDUAL    LIBERTY. 

"I  have  already  stated  that  the  first 
duty  of  government  is  to  assist  in  bring- 
ing about  the  necessary  conditions  for 
the  organization  of  legislation,  or,  what 
amounts  to  the  same  thing,  to  be  careful 
to  maintain  intact  individual  liberty.  For 
this  reason,  the  first  thing  the  political 
constitution  of  a  nation  should  do  is  to 
prevent  the  government,  on  the  pre- 
text of  preserving  peace  and  order  (rea- 
sons always  alleged  by  tyrants  to  Justify 
their  actions),  from  restricting  individual 
rights  and  arrogating  to  itself  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  direct  individual  initiative 
and  social  activity  by  enslaving  the  in- 
dividual and  society.  The  Constitution 
of  1857,  as  I  have  already  stated,  declared 
that  the  rights  of  the  individual  are  the 
basis  and  object  of  all  social  institutions; 
but,  with  few  exceptions,  did  not  grant 
such  rights  or  sufficient  guarantees.  The 
secondary  laws  did  not  severely  punish 
the  violation  of  such  guarantees,  because 
they  only  provided  insignificant  penalties, 
which  were  hardly  ever  enforced.  So 
that,  without  fear  of  exaggeration,  it  may 
be  said  that,  in  spite  of  the  aforesaid 
Constitution,  individual  liberty  remained 
entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the  rulers.  The 
numerous  attempts  against  individual 
rights  and  their  various  manifestations 
during  the  period  in  which  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1857  has  been  in  force  are  sur- 
prising. Not  a  day  had  passed  without 
complaints  against  the  abuses  and  ex- 
cesses of  the  authorities  from  one  end  to 
the  other  of  the  republic,  and,  notunth- 
standing  the  frequency  of  the  evil  and  the 
trouble  it  constantly  caused  the  Federal 
judicial  authority  made  no  effort  to  put 
an  end  to  this  state  of  affairs  or  to  punish 
those  guilty  for  it.  Imagination  cannot 
even  form  an  idea  of  the  innumerable 
cases  of  appeals  from  being  drafted  into 
the  army,  or  against  the  arbitrary  ac- 
tions of  justices  of  the  peace.  The  mere 
declaration  of  a  right,  the  mere  proclama- 
tion of  a  basic  principle  of  social  and 
political  order,  is  a  futile  bulwark  with 
which  to  contest  long-established  tradi- 
tion and  the  inveterate  habits  and  cus- 
toms of  an  authority  invested  with  om- 
nipotent powers.  These  have  been  so  far- 
reaching  that  often  the  people  have  had 
no  other  alternative  but  silence  and  obe- 
dience. 

TO   CORRBCT    EVILS. 

"It  is  to  correct  these  evils  that  my 
Administration  brings  forward  the  vari- 
ous reforms  bearing  on  the  first  section 
of  the  first  part  of  the  Constitution  of 
1857,  and  I  hope  that  with  them  and  the 
severe  penalties  imposed  by  the  Penal 
Code  for  the  violation  of  individual  guar- 
antees, the  public  authorities  will  be  com- 
pelled to  be  what  they  should  be,  namely, 
the  safeguards  of  society,  instead  of  what 
they  have  been,  the  oppressors  of  those 


25 


who  have  had  the  misfortune  to  fall  into 
their  hands. 

"The  Government  emanating  from  the 
revolution— and  this  is  known  through- 
out the  republic— has  taken  particular 
care  to  encourage  education  in  all  social 
spheres.  I  firmly  believe  that  this  im- 
pulse will  not  only  continue,  but  will  be 
intensified  day  by  day,  so  that  the  Mexi- 
cans will  become  a  cultured  people,  capa- 
ble of  realizing  their  high  destinies,  and 
able  to  give  to  their  national  Government 
such  solid  and  efficacious  cooperation  :j 
will  make  anarchy,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
a  dictatorship,  on  the  other,  impossible. 
The  independent  municipality  is  undoubt- 
edly one  of  the  great  achievements  of 
the  revolution,  as  well  as  the  basis  of  a 
free  Government,  a  conquest  which  not 
only  gives  political  freedom  to  municipal- 
life,  but  also  economic  independence, 
since  the  municipality  will  have  its  own 
funds  and  resources  with  which  to  me?t 
it*  needs,  thus  being  taken  out  of  reach 
of  the  insatiable  greed  generally  shown 
by  governors. 

"Tocqueville    observed   in   his   study   of 
the   history  of  the   American   peoples  of 
Spanish    origin    that   the   latter    turn    to 
anarchy  when  they  are  tired  of  obedience, 
and  to  a  dictatorship  when  tired  of  de- 
struction, and  he  considers  that  this  osciri 
lation  between  order  and  violence  is  the 
fatal  law  which  governed  and  will  govern 
for  a  long  time  those  nationa     This  theo- 
rist   did    not    say   what,    in    his   opinion, 
would  be  the  means  of  getting  rid  of  tho  ' 
evil,    which   he    could    quite   easily 
done   had   he   observed   really   the 
cedents  of  each  case  and     the     cii 
stances  under  which  revolution  inva 

occurs."  i  H 

- 

Here  (Jen.  Carranza  launched  into  an 
analysis  of  "strong  governments"  as  con- 
trasted with  "despotic  governments,"  and 
pointed  out  that  certain  superior  classes 
have  always  blundered  in  thinking  that 
the  way  to  produce  order  was  to  ignore 
tho  law. 

'That,  and  nothing  else,"  continued  Mr. 
Carranza,  "was  the  cause  of  the  fatal 
habit  of  which  Tocqueville  spoke,  be- 
cause a  dictatorship  will  no  more  product 
peace  or  order  than  darkness  will  pro- 
duce light." 

Tht  First  Chief,  who  is  soon  to  bo 
President  of  Mexico,  is  a  man  of  rars 
political  ability.  He  is  undoubtedly,  of 
all  the  revolutionists  produced  in  the  last 
six  years  in  Mexico,  by  far  the  most 
learned  and  the  most  cultured.  He  was 
a  Senator  from,  as  well  as  Governor  of, 
the  state  of  Coahuila  in  the  days  of  Diaz. 
He  has  seen  Mexico  under  conditions  old 
and  new.  He  is  proceeding  slowly,  and, 
disturbed  by  no  outside  influence,  is  bound 
to  be  remembered  in  Mexican  history  as 
one  of  its  greatest  statesmen. 


0216: 


THE   THUTH   ABOUT    MEXICO 


XII. 


BREGON  AND  GONZALES 

-THEIR  PERSONALITIES 


Generals  of  the  Revolution  Support  Carranza  Loyally— Both 
are  Thoroughgoing  Constitutionalists  Who  Enlisted 
Against  Huerta  on  Principle. 


Mexico  City,  December,  1916. 


U 


TNTIL  revolutionary  governments 
take  the  form  of  stable  administra- 
tions ruled  by  a  chief  executive 
whose  words  and  commands  become  in- 
violate. It  is  not  unusual  to  find  the  body 
politic  governed  by  a  group  of  military 
chiefs.  Mexico  is  no  exception,  but  to- 
day the  southern  republic  is  passing 
through  that  evolutionary  stage  wherein 
the  lesser  chiefs  have  become  incorporat- 
ed in  the  military  strength  or  prestige 
of  a  few  greater  ones.  \ 

Next  to  Gen.  Carranza  there  are  two 
men  in  Mexico  to-day  whose  political 
and  military  power  constitutes  an  essen- 
tial part  of  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Con- 
stitutionalist Administration.  They  are 
Gen.  Alvaro  Obregon  and  Gen.  Pablo 
Gonzales.  Without  their  cooperation, 
without  their  consent,  Gen.  Carranza 
could  not  administer  the  office  of  chief 
ij&executive — a    central   government    would 

t  virtually  hopeless.  And  whenever  two 
A  ascend  to  such  strategic  heights,  it 
is  as  natural  as  it  is  inevitable  in  Mexico 
that  doubt  should  at  once  be  cast  on 
their  individual  loyalty  to  the  higher  au- 
thority^- frequently  subordinate  colonels 
or  chiefs  through  hopes  of  self-advance- 
ment, spur  th^eu  leaders  on  to  revolt; 
they  engage  in  intrigue  and  sooner  or 
later,  by  creating  an  atmosphere  of  jeal- 
ousy and  suspicion,  easily  discover  a  pre- 
text tor  a  quarrel  and  urge  It  upon  their 
superiora  If  the  tatter  be  unscrupulous 
f  "and  without  moral  character,  ambitious 
and  fearless,  as  wat  Huerta,  no  obstacle, 
not  even  assassination,  will  be  permitted 
to  stand  In  the  way  of  accomplishing  a 
usurpation. 

Many  persons  have  thus  worked  on 
Gena  Gonzales  and  Obregon,  some  of 
them  On  the  pretence  of  deep  friendship, 
in  an  effort  to  effect  a  break  with  Car- 


ranza, but  with  no  success.  The  con- 
spirators have,  however,  been  able  to  stir 
up  jealousy  between  the  staffs  of  the 
two  generals,  and  to  contribute  no  little 
embarrassment  to  both.  But  neither  gen- 
eral is  himself  unscrupulous,  neither  is 
a  fool,  and  neither  wants  to  start  a  revolt 
of  arms.  The  certainty  alone  of  an  Amer- 
ican occupation  as  a  sequel  does  not 
make  the  responsibility  for  a  aew  revo- 
lution seem  particularly  attractive. 

BOTH   SUPPORT    CARRANZA. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Alvaro  Obregon 
and  Pablo  Gonzales  are  thoroughgoing 
Constitutionalist*  They  enlisted  in  the 
revolt  against  Huerta  purely  on  principle. 
It  they  have  any  ambitions,  they  will  de- 
sire to  satisfy  -them  through  the  regular 
electoral  processes  some  day,  but  not 
through  another  arbitrary  overthrow  of 
constitutional  government.  And  both 
men  are  earnest  and  sincere  in  their 
support  of  Gen.  Carranza's  candidacy  for 
President,  which  is  unopposed. 

Both  Gens,  Obregon  and  Gonzales  were 
in  the  city  during  my  stay  here,  and  I 
spent  an  hour  or  more  with  each,  talk- 
ing about  domestic  troubles,  the  effect 
of  the  reelection  of  President  Wilson,  the 
Pershing  expedition,  and  other  subjects 
of  mutual  interest.  I  found  Gen.  Gonza- 
les at  Tacubaya,  a  suburb,  where  he  and 
his  staff  had  occupied  the  home  of  Fer- 
nando de  Teresa,  a  millionaire  now  in 
Europe.  I  had  heard  a  great  deal  about 
requisitioning  houses,  but  after  a  stroll 
through  this  immense  estate,  I  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  not  only  had  Don 
Pablo  taken  good  care  not  to  destroy 
anything  in  the  big  dwelling,  but  he  ac- 
tually had  detailed  several  men  to  trim 
the  gardens  daily  and  generally  clean  it 
up,  for  the  place  had  been  unoccupied  for 


several  years.  And  wh>  ■  ndo  de 
Teresa  comes  home,  he'l  •  .  .  .  i  man- 
sion, furniture,  gardens  pools, 
swimmtag  tank,  bowling  heatre, 
art  gallery,  stable*  mir  illway, 
trees,  and  arbors  in  jus.  1  con- 
dition as  when  he  left. 

Don  Pablo  is  fond  of  ho  ponies 

and  must  needs  show  me  :  iction. 

A  few  minutes  he  spent  r<  litary 

telegrams  and  then  he  sat  talk. 

He  had  a  rather  disagrees  ience 

with   Gregory  Mason's  int  i   the 

Outlook — a    bona-fide   intej  the 

way,)  because  copies  of  it  -\  i   also 

to  all   the  newspaper   corr  'a  in 

Mexico  City,  but  containing  :  ther 

indiscreet  to  say  during  tht  y  of 

a   Presidential    election     in  dted 

States.     So  Gen.  Gonzales    i  '  of 

quoted  interviews.     As  a_m;  '  fact, 

what  he  said  in  that  intervit  nt- 

ed  what  he  actually  felt — tl  pen 

enmity  of  Hughes  was  to  be  \to 

the  incomprehensible  friends  7ll- 

son.      It   was   a   typical   vie>  v.he 

Mexicans  wanted  to  know  if  t.irs* 

States   really   was   planning  on 

or    occupation    and   wanted   to  I            to 

prepare   against  it.     Or  they  to 

know  what  to  be  sure  was  fc  le 

many  conflicting  moves  on  t  )f 
their  northern  neighbor. 

QLAD  WILSON   WON. 

But    Pablo    Gonzales    really  1 

Wilson  won.     On  the  whole,  tl         ■••ion 
was  considered  favorable  to  M     < 
the  feeling  prevailed  that  if  V.. 
cans  really  were  sincere,  they  r 
withdraw    the    Pershing   exped. 
there  would  be  no  international 
Gen.   Gonzales  is  a  man  of  coi 
character   and   integrity.     He   e  ■ 
little,  but  you  can  rely  on  his  wo -1.        e 
is    very    popular    among    the    f< 
He    was    in    the    milling    busine: 
the    revolution   began,   and   his    m 
success  has  resulted  merely  fron 
plication  of  business  sense  to   a 
ganization.     He   has  been  in  th< 
States  a  great   deal,    has  done 
with  Americans  and  foreigners,  a 
dies  himself  very  well  indeed.     . . 
m6st  disgruntled  member  of  the 
can  colony  in  Mexico  City  an •.;    ■       a 
say:  "Oh,  Gen.  Gonzales  is  all  rU 
a  good  administrator.    If  there  ~\ 
more  like   him."     The  same  is  3 
Tampico,    San    Luis    Potosl— eve 
that  he  has  been  stationed. 

Don  Pablo  is  a  favorite  of  Ge. 
ranza.    Both  come  from  the  same 
Coahuila — and  their  friendship  date 
many  years.     Friction  between  th 
any  serious  character  is  very  impro 
In  a  sense,  Gen.  Gonzales  is  a  creatu  ■< 
Gen.    Carranza,    and   throughout   all 
ructions  with  Villa  and  the  dissensio 


Q21GZ 


• 


the  Constitutionalist  camp,  not  a  bit  of 
doubt  prevailed  that  Gonzales  would  stick 
to  the  First  Chief  through  thick  and  thin. 
His  square  jaw,_in  fact  the  lines  of  face, 
are  those  of  a  man  of  character.  It  is 
what  we  are  accustomed  to  call  a  strong 
face.  His  hair  is  jet  black  and  runs 
somewhat  to  the  football  crop.  He  wears 
gold  spectacles  and  a  black  fedora  hat,  a 
plain  sack  suit  and  polka-dot  vest — at 
least  this  was  his  Sunday  morning  garb, 
and  I  noticed  that  he  was  the  only  man 
at  headquarters  who  didn't  wear  a  uni- 
form, which  is  a  fact  of  no  small  signifi- 
cance, because  in  Mexico  there  seems  to 
be  some  kind  of  contest  or  rivalry  on 
among  the  generals  and  colonels,  cap- 
tains and  lieutenants  to  see  who  can 
design  the  most  distinctive  uniform  out 
of  khaki,  or  olive  drab,  an  abundance  of 
brass  buttons  and  gold  lace,  and  a  study 
of  military  fashion  plates  of  generations. 
Indeed,  the  Interesting  thing  to  tho 
casual  observer  of  both  Obregon  and 
Gonzales  would  be  that  they  didn't  look 
like  military  men  at  all.  .They  might  be 
business  men,  bankers,  or  merchants  for 
all  the  outsider  knew.  Gen.  Obregon,  for 
instance,  when  I  visited  him  at  his  home 
in  the  military  school  alongside  Chapul- 
tepec  Castle,  wore  a  heavy  gray  sweater 
and  mufti  of  the  plainest. 

OBnBOON    HAS    "PUNCH." 

Alvaro  Obregon  is  an  engaging  figure 
and  a  winning  personality.  He  can  bo 
Just  as  anti-American  as  any  one  else  in 
Mexico  and  as  simpatico,  too,  though,  to 
be  sure,  whenever  I  investigate  the  ef- 
fects of  our  crudely  worked  out  policy  to- 
ward Mexico,  I  am  not  surprised  th«it 
anti-Americanism  is  so  infectious.  Obre- 
gon is  a  man  of  force.  He  has  the  punch 
Americans  love  to  admire.  He  is  honest. 
He  is  good-hearted.  He  is  a*brave  com- 
mander and  a  tactful  one.  He  has  never 
lost  a  battle  in  nearly  three  years  of  con- 
stant campaigning.  When  I  saw  him  he 
was  going  through  a  rather  excruciating 
experience.  The  stub  of  his  left  arm 
which  had  parted  company  with  a  pow- 
erful   right   hand  at   the   last   battle   of 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 

Celaya  against  Villa  was  in  a  cast.  He 
had  slipped  on  the  stairway  a  few  days 
before  and  fractured  the  upper  arm.  Yet 
he  was  up  and  about  carrying  on  his  du- 
ties of  Minister  of  War  from  hfs  resi- 
dence. And  he  had  time  to  work  on  a 
book  that  he  is  writing  covering  his  ex- 
periences in  the  campaigns  of  the  present 
revolution,  his"'  thousands  of  miles  of 
marches  and  countermarches,  his  sweep 
from  the  Arizona  border  through  Sonora 
and  along  the  Pacific  Coast  to  Mexico 
City  against  Huerta — he  was  the  first  to 
enter  there  in"-l914 — and  his  northward 
pursuit  and  spectacular  defeat  of  Villa, 
after  which  the  latter  took  to  the  moun- 
tains. If  Gen.  Murgia  fails  in  Chihuahua, 
Gen.  Obregon  expects  to  take  the  field 
himself  against  the  northern  bandit. 

Gen.  Obregon  is  what  Americans  would 
call  a  reasonable  man.  He  has  neither 
the  wisdom  nor  the  profundity  of  a 
statesman — and  doesn't  pretend  to  have. 
He  is  a  man  of  utter  simplicity,  a  man 
without  guile,  direct,  emphatic,  energetic, 
and  true  blue.  People  who  gossip  of  in- 
trigue and  disloyalty  in  his  connection 
simply  do  not  know  the  man.  I  like 
his  good-humor.  Some  people  say  he  has 
inherited  it  from  Irish  ancestors.  Cer- 
tainly his  spirit  is  a  youthful  one;  his 
years  arc  thirty-six.  He  has  just  married 
and  with  him  lives  an  older  sister. 

HIS    VIEW    ON    OUR    PEARS. 

We  talked  about  the  embargo  on  arms 
and  international  questiona  Gen.  Obre- 
gon was  matter-of-fact  and  frank.  I  told 
him  that  ever  since  Carrizal  people  in  the 
United  States  had  been  so  uncertain 
about  the  future  status  of  their  relations 
with  Mexico,  however  well  disposed  the 
American  Government  might  be,  public 
opinii  n  would  not  sanction  the  arminu 
of  a  possible  foe.  Gen.  Obregon  under 
stood  that  in  an  instant; — it  was  merely 
military  necessity.  But  he  was  just  a* 
sure  American  apprehensions  about  M 
ico  were  ill-founded,  and  that  there  wis 
to  be  peace,  not  war.  And,  moreover.  :  he 
embarrassment  about  arms  was  over  he 
confessed,   because   machinery   had   Seen 


Imported,  and  Mexican  arsenals  wert 
turning  out  thousands  and  thousand 
cartridges   every    day— sufficient   at   u 
rate  with  which   to  conduct  the  various 
campaigns  against  bandits. 

By  his  conversation  it  was  easy  to  e.e 
that  Gen.  Obregon  had  |»erfeci;  confidence 
in  Gen.  Carranza's  ability  tc  handle  the 
international  situation.    He  did  not  insist 
on  knowing  details  or  interjecting  a  po*r> 
of  view.     Don  Venustiano  could  intp 
the  Mexican  point  of  view  or.  sueii  ma 
ters.     Nationalism  is  neve    an  amblgv 
ous  thing,  anyway.    It  permits  of  no  su 
render    of   any   of  the   sacred  right* 
sovereignty,   no  yielding  of   the  nation 
independence — and   these   principles,    r. 
thing    more    and    nothing    less,    under* 
Mexico's  cautious,  even  suspicious,  at' 
tude  toward  her  big,  powerful,  resource! 
neighbor — the  United  States. 

Obregon    and    Gonzales    a'e    from    t 
north  of  Mexico,  virile  personal  ties.  TV" 
combined    military    strength.,    distxibut. 
through   a  lot     of   lesser     generals  an 
chiefs,  was  the  Instrument  by  which  V 
revolution  was  won  first  against  Hueru 
and  then  against  the  organized  warfar» 
of  Villa   Their  tasks  are  not  dona   Bar 
ditry,    the    sequel   of   organised   flghtmfc 
still  prevails,  as  it  did  in  Madero's  time, 
as  it  ever  will  until  the  central  author- 
ity has  been  firmly  enough  established  i 
get  money  wherewith  to  supply  and  trai 
an  efficient   force  for   bandit  hunting, 
job  many  times  as  difficult  as  an  out-»v. 
out  fight,  as  our  own  experience  -^ith  J 
dian  forays  and  bushwhacking  will  te 
tify.     All   of   this    takes    time.      And 
America  can  once  be  assured  that  Mexico 
has  in  her  leadership  men  of  capacity,  the 
moral   help   necessary   to  enablB  the  de 
facto  Government   to   obtain   credit   and 
the  elements  wherewith  to  combat  ban.- 
ilitry,  industrial  troubles,  and  other  dis- 
turbances, ought  not  to  be  long  withheld 
Again,  seeing  is  believing,  and  fair-mimt 
ed    observations    will    bring    convincing 
proof  that  Mexico  indeed  has  the  mora! 
capacity,   needing  only   certain  material 
aid  or  elements  to  become  master  of  her- 
self. 


\ 


02166 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


XIII. 


:CTS    IN   AMERICAN    POLICY 


Prim;,  ie  of  Wilson  Policy  of  Altruism  Correct,  but  Execution 
ClumsyMomt  of  the  Disastrous  Mistakes  of  the  Past— 
Conductive  Suggestions  for  the^Future. 


Washington,  D.  C,  December,  191 6. 


TT  is   ,i      ^    ry   well  to   interpret   Mexico 
■  s   it  evolutionary  development, 

*  to  H;va,  ie    at    true    values    the    dis- 
'urbaueea       herfe^JPi     PO»nt     out     the 
•ertain     movement     forward 
facto      Government      and 
the  MexicaxMople;   but,  you  will  ask, 
,ov   can  tbeftJnlted  States  solve  Its  im- 
tkfedlato    pr  blem,   what   about    banditry, 
about  jfco  Americans    being:  killed 
.1  ii,    and    what    of    Villft,    the 
pedition,    and    the    Interna - 
,      dssion?     To  put  these  aues- 
•fct.s    nucdrjB&t   What   policy    would   be 
/  this  correspondent  or  any 
<tihc ■■;  tor  t  iat  matter,  who  had  made  a 
a-  tour  Jtoboervation  ?    Suppose  one 
ty  given  by  the  United-State s 
nm«nt  Hp'  responsibility    of    han- 
dling the  s  inle  business,  what  would  be 
tfc«.  fiist  stt  ps  taken? 

u  j%  can    be    simply  stated.     It 

r>     t,  a  sincere  desire  to.  ander- 

1    the      atla- character,   and,  *Beond, 

1  1  recute  the  obvious  policy 

an    understanding    dictates 

^hen  the  curtain  is  lifted  ami 

record   of   our   dealings   with 

^•evealed    to    the    naked   eye, 

I  not  feel  very  proud* of  her 

There    is  in   them  every 

honest,  patriotic  wish   to 

^her  feet,  but  a  regrettable 

blunders,  and   miscon- 

ivp  wounded  Mexico  and 

prestige  of  the   United 

jj|i- American  spirit  and 

|grnrnents  to-day  mu- 

^each    other,   respec- 

§  far  from  under- 

:h  other  aJLthey  were  nearly 

ago  when  the  trouble  started. 

i  occasions  when   the   higher 

1  to  write  in  criticism  of  one's 

irhent     "The  king  can  do  no 


•at.  abili 
which 


place  in  the  vocabulary  of  republican 
peoples.  America's  policy  toward  Mex- 
ico has  not  been  at  fault  in  principle,  but 
disastrously  ■  lumsy  in  execution  thereof. 
We  have  expressed  ourselves  crudely, 
and  we  have  acted  inconsistently.  But 
fortunately  we  have  not  lost  our  oppor- 
tunity. We  can  still  convince  Mexico 
that  the  United  States  is  her  best  friend, 
if  we  will  but  be  big  enough,  aye  gen- 
erous enough,  to  deal  with. her  as  only 
a  great  and  powerful  nation  like  ours 
can  act  toward  a  weak  and  struggling 
neighbor  or  as  one  honorable  nation 
should  act  toward  another  of  similar  in- 
tegrity. 

NEITHKH    Slhfe;   TRUSTS   Tt**  OTHER. 

1  have  just  come  from  Mexico  City  and 
queretaro,  where  I  sat  down  with  many 
old  friends,  in  and  out  of  the  Govern- 
ment, discussing  for  many  hrurs, Mexico's 
attitude  toward  the  United  States.  I 
have  talked  many  hours  here,  too,  with" 
officials  of  the  United  States. Government 
in  the  last  five  years.  The  two  Govern- 
ments are  far  apart,  too  far.  They  have 
not  -even  reached  the  point  of  actual 
trust.  Heither  believes  in  the  other.  Nei- 
ther will  take  the  word  of  the  other.  On 
the  surface,  friendship,  the  hypocritical 
kind  that  leads  to  tears,  prevails;  under - 

<ath    ore   the    bitterest    of   resentments, 

ten  ill-concealed  enmity.  It  is  just  as 
hue,  in  both  capitals — in  Washinpton  as 
u  '71  as  Mexico  City. 

it  would  be  superfluous  here  to  analyse 
the  Land  mission,  the  odd  spectacle  of  the 
American  Government  layiag  down  spe- 
cific conditions  for  the  holding  of  an  elec-' 
tlon  in  sovereign  Mexico;  it' would  serve 
no  good  purpose  now  to  tell  what  harm 
the  occupation  of  Vera  Cruz  did,  what 
doubt  it  cast  upon  America's  intentions, 
but  there  are  things  happening  to-day  be- 
fore our  very  eyes  that  are  doing  harm 
""■?  that  "~t">  ^iv  may  fnrre  war  on  an 


unwilling  American  people  if  a  halt  Is 
not  soon  called  by  an  alert  American  pub- 
lic opinion. 

OUR    ABSURDLY    INADEQUATE    REPRESENTATION. 

Does  the  average  American  know,  for 
example,  that  the  business  of  the  great 
United  States  Government  is  being  han- 
dled in  Mexico  by  one  or  two  clerks,  neith- 
er of  whom  is  accredited  to  the  Carranza 
Government,  neither  of  whom  is  in  the 
diplomatic  service,  neither  of  whom  has 
had  the  training  or  experience  to  express 
to  Mexico  the  many  good  purposes  which 
the  United  States  has  in  mind  toward  her 
neighbor?  Who  talks  to  Carranza  for 
vs.:  who  explains  our  purposesf    No  one. 

Does  the  average  American  know,  too, 
that  friendly  diplomatic  relations  were 
renewed  with  the  recognition  of  the  de 
facto  Government  a  year  ago,  and  yet  in 
all  that  time  an  American  Ambassador 
has  not  been  sent  to  Mexico  nor  even  a 
Cliarpe"  d' Affaires — no  one  except  a  special 
agent  or  two,  whose  status  differed  not  a 
bit  from  the  status  of  the  special  agents 
sent  before  a  Government  was  recognized 
In  Mexico. 

Is  Mexico  to  be  blamed  for  suspecting 
the  good  faith  of  the  United  States  wfcen 
the  latter  hesitates  to  shake  hands,  to 
make  good  the  promise  to  send  an  am- 
bassador, a  promise  given  more  than  a 
year  ago?  What  is  the  real  explanation 
In  Washington  of  the  failure  to  send 
Ambassador  Fletcher?  Well,  first,  the 
Republicans  filibustered  and  his  confir- 
mation was  delayed  several  weeks.  When 
he  was  finally  confirmed,  last  spring,  the 
American  Government  decided  that  it 
wouldn't  be  "dignified"  to  send  an  Am- 
bassador to  Mexico  "just  yet."  In  other 
words,  it  was  decided  to  wait  until  Mex- 
ico was  In  complete  peace,  when  an 
Ambassador  would  be  of  only  one-hun- 
dredth as  much  good  to  Mexico  or  to  the 
United  States  as  he  could  be  to-day.  v  An 
American  Ambassador  should  have  been 
in  Mexico  for  many  months,  dignity  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding.  He  should 
have  been  rendering  help  to  Mexico,  as 
well  a-s  looking  ,out  for  Americans  and 
their  interests,  but  above  all,  he  should 
have  been  giving  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment and  the  American  people  the 
benefit  of  his  observation  and  his  judg- 
ment. We  haven't  even  known  the  facts 
from  unbiassed  sources. 

No  better  man  than  Henry  P.  Fletcher 
could  have  been  chosen  Amhassador.  He 
has  had  long  experience  in  Latin  coun- 
tries. He  Is  a  former  Rough  Rider,  but  a 
versatile  diplomat,  a  man  of  charm.  He 
talks  the  language  o£  LrfUin  America,  and 
grasps  its  thought.  He  is  simpatico.  He 
is  tactful;  he  Is  resourceful.  He  would 
be  able  from  Mexico  City — on  the  ground 
— to  advise  the  President  and  Secretary  of 
State  on  matters  of  policy.  Mexico  wants 
him  to  come.    He  is  young  and  enthusias- 


0216' 


tic.  Why  shouldn't  he  go  at  once?  And 
wouldn't  that  very  act  carry  to  the  Mexi- 
can mind,  as  well  as  the  whole  world,  the 
conviction  that  peace,  and  not  a  break 
in  relations,  was  contemplated  by  the 
United  States?  Would  it  not  remove 
doubt  as  to  American  plans? 

A    HOT    AND    COU>    POLICY. 

The  policy  of  the  Administration  at 
Washington  ever  since  it  recognized  Car- 
ranza  has  been  intermittently  hot  and 
cold.  We  have  never  whole-heartedly 
given  our  moral  support  to  the  de  facto 
Government.  This  has  always  been  held 
back  while  we  were  waiting  for  some- 
thing—peace and  order,  perhaps — waiting 
for  the  very  things  to  happen  which  the 
United  States  ought  to  have  ungrudgingly 
helped  Mexico  to  make  happen. 


Let  us  look  at  the  Pershing  expedition. 
It  entered  Mexico  without  Mexico's  per- 
mission.     When    it    crossed    the    line    a 
statement   was   issued   by   the   War   De- 
partment  at  the   direction   of  the  Presi- 
dent, saying  the  American  troops  would 
be  withdrawn  as  soon  as  Carranza  Gov- 
ernment forces  could  arrive  on  the  scene 
to  take  control.    Enough  Carranza  troops 
arrived,    but    the    American    Government 
did   not   withdraw.      Instead,    it   brushed 
against  Mexican  forces  at  Carrlzal,  and 
then  It  settled  down  to  a  quiet  occupa- 
tion of  Mexican  territory  without  accom- 
plishing Its  original   object.     Its  quarrel 
had  been  with  Villa.     Carranza  certainly 
had  not  raided  American  territory.     But 
falling    to    catch    Villa,     the     American 
troops  were  held   on   Mexican   soil   as   a 
bargaining    lever    with    Carranxa,    as   a 
means  of  getting  something  out%of  weak 
and    struggling    Mexico — getting    whatf 
Why,  promises  of  protection  for  foreign- 
ers,  and   effective   patrol   of   the   "border. 
Yet  any  one  who  knows  Mexico  knows 
that    such    promises   are    not   worth    the 
paper  they  are  written  on   unless  there 
Is   a   strong   central   Government   to   en- 
force them,  unless  there  is  a  stable  Gov- 
ernment,   financially      able      to    pay    its 
troops  and  organize  them   as  was   Diaz. 
But    did    the    United    States    keep    sight 
of  that  dominant  fact?     Did  it  take  ac- 
count   of    the    injury    it    was    doing    the 
central   Government,   the  embarrassment 
It  was  imposing  before  the  world  by  cast- 
ing  doubt  upon   its   own   friendliness   or 
moral  support  of  the  Government  it  had 
only    a   few    months    before    recognized? 
Mexicans   do   not  like    foreign    troops   on-*, 
their   soil   any   more   than   we   do.     Turn 
to    the    Far   East,    where    Japan    on    the 
slightest    provocation    sends    troops    Into 
the   territory   of  helpless  China,   while  a 
suspicious   world  looks^on,   if  you    want 
to    understand    what    Mexico    and    Latin 
America   secretly   think    when    the    Pun- 
«ton    forces   or   the   Pershing  expeditions 
axe   roaming   on   the   sovereign    territory 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    MEXICO 


of  the  Mexican  republic  in  Vera  Cruz  or 
Chihuahua. 

BARGAINING    ABOUT    SOVEREIGNTY    RIGHTS. 

The    United    States    did    not    withdraw 
the    troops,    as    so    frequently    promised. 
Mexico  threatened,  but  soon  realized  the 
futility   of   threats.     Mexico,   like   China, 
was  too  feeble  to  resist.     A  commission 
was  appointed  really  to  bridge  the  crisis 
that  arose  at  Carrlzal.     The  Presidential 
campaign     here     delayed     matters.     The 
Mexican     indulgently     understood.      Now 
the    campaign    is    over.      Gen.    Carranza 
had  been  promised  that  If  he  agreed  to 
discuss    all    the    points    involved    in    the 
Mexican  problem,   the  question  of  with- 
drawal of    American    troops    would    be 
discussed   "preferentially."     It   would    be 
tr.ken  up  and  disposed  of  first.    Privately 
he  suggested  a  wide  discussion  later.    He 
wanted    this    procedure    so    that    Mexico 
would  not  be  In  the  position  of  bargain- 
ing with    her    Northern      neighbor      for 
rights    of   sovereignty,    so    that   Mexico's 
territory  could  be  free  of  foreign  troops 
when  a  discussion  •*  other  matters  was 
begun. 

Was  that  promise  of  the  United  States 
to   withdraw   the   American     troops   and 
then    discuss    the    other    questions    real- 
ly     kept      In      letter      or      in      spirit  ? 
There     are     doubts.      The     Joint     Com- 
mission,   acting    presumably    under    In- 
struction   from    Washington,    asked    for 
the   settlement  of  many  other  questions 
along  with  the  border  problem.     It  took 
up  a  variety  of  other  subjects,  and  only 
lately  drew  up  a  protocol  about  the  with- 
drawal of  Pershing.     Has  it  taken  Mex- 
ico's  word   that   as   soon   as   the   troops 
were  withdrawn  she  would  discuss  other, 
problems  of  international  importance?  Not 
yet.  Mexico  isn't  to  be  trusted,  says  Wash- 
ington.    Why,  as  soon  as  the  Pershing 
expedition    is    withdrawn,    the    Mexicans 
wouldn't  care  anything  about  the  other 
problems,  and  would  hem  and  haw  and 
do    nothing— that    is    the    real    American 
point  of  view.     Is  Mexico  to  be  given  a 
chance  to  prove  her  good  faith?    No.  the 
assumption  upon  which  action  Is  based  is 
the    same    assumption    that    the    White 
Papers   and   the   Orange   Papers   and   the 
Red  Books  reek  with. 

And  when  the  protocols  are  submitted. 
a  statement  Is  Issued  separately  by  the 
United  States  threatening  unlimited  pur- 
suit of  bandits  In  Mexico.  That  was  a 
threat  of  more  punitive  expeditions.  It 
was  a  warning  that  in  withdrawing 
Pershinsr  now.  Mexico  might  have  other 
expeditions  to  worry  about  if  sV  didn't 
do  what  '  if  she  didn't  stop  border  raids. 
And  Mexico  is  powerless  to  stop  bor- 
der raids  so  long  as  her  Government  is 
weak.  The  Government  of  Mexico  can- 
not be  strong  if  it  is  at  odds  with  the 
United  States,  if  the  United  States  keeps 


casting  doubt  on  Its  capacity.     Its  ere.. 
remains  depressed.     Was   the   statement 
of    unlimited    pursuit      consistent      with 
"moral  support"?    On  the  contrary,  it  re- 
acted  in   Mexico  in   a   way  quite   differ- 
ent from   that  which   was  supposed.      It    y 
was  construed  as  an  official  threat.  That's  \ 
why  Gen.  Carranza  didn't  sign  the  Amer- 
ican   protocols.      What    is    the    use    of 
signing  a  deed  for  a  lot  the  sale  of  which 
you  are  just  completing,  when  the  seller 
reminds   you    that  if   your   children    play 
In  his  front  yard,  he  will  come  over  and 
lick      your      whole    family?      That    Isn't 
nelghborliness.       That     depreciates^    the 
value      of   the   lot.    deed   and   all.      Gen. 
Carranza  had  to  point  out  that  he  could 
not   let   such    a   statement   of   hostile  In- 
tention   pass    unnoticed.      His    commis- 
sioners will  probably  have  to  accept,  af- 
ter   all.    the    American    programme,    and 
discuss  questions  of  various  kinds  while 
the    Pershing    expedition    is    on    Mexican 
soil.     What  remedy  has  Gen.  Carranra? 
He  can't  go  to  war  about  it.     But  is  It 
any    wonder     that     Americans     are     not 
liked  in  Mexico?    Is  this  the  way  to  build 
international   friendships?     The    methods 
used  sound  strangely  like  Japanese  coer- 
cion of  China,  like  the  ultimatum  which 
China    was   compelled   to   accept    In    1915 
because  there  was  no  alternative. 

UNEQUAL    TREATMENT    OK    SMUGGLING. 

While  I  was  in  Mexico,  a  bitter  anti- 
American  speech  was  made  in  the  Constit- 
uent Assembly  at  Queretaro  by  a  member 
of  the  Carranza  Cabinet,  Candido  Aguilar. 
This  was  why:   Although  Mexico  has  to- 
day a  constituted  Government,  and  by  all 
our  laws  Is  entitled  to  ammunition,   the 
embargo,  declared  after  Carrlzal,  never  has 
been  lifted.    Villa  smuggles  on  the  north- 
ern border,  largely  because  of  the  ineffi- 
cient   secret    service    and    some    corrupt 
state  officials  in  Texas  and  New  Mexico. 
Carranza's  military  men  decide  to  do  some 
smuggling,  too.     A  cargo  of  ammunition 
is  consigned  as  machinery  on  board  the 
Ward  liner  JSsperanza.     As  the  boxes  are 
being    unloaded    at    Vera    Cruz,    a    crane 
breaks,    and    one   box    falls,    spilling   car- 
tridges on  the  docks.    Promptly  American 
officials  are  advised.     The  captain  of  the 
Illinois,   lyittg  in    the    harbor,    orders    no 
further  unloading  until  he  can  communi- 
cate with  Washington.     He  should  have 
known  that  the  place  to  prevent  smug- 
gling was  In  New  York   harbor.    There  is 
some  delay.    The  Mexican  Government  at 
Queretaro    is    advised      That    same    dav 
Villa    defeats    the    Carranza    garrison    at 
Chihuahua.  The  Mexican  leaders  at  Que- 
retaro infer  that  the  Cnited  States  is  do- 
ing all  it  can  to  prevent  the  de  facto  Gov- 
ernment from  succeeding     Yet  the  Unit- 
ed  States  wants   the   northern   eampai*.i 
against  bandits  prosecuting  vigorously.  I« 
it   any  wonder   that  the  simple   Mexican 
mind  evolves  the  idea  of  double  dealing 


02168 


sn 


*rom  that  incident?  The  ammunition  at 
Vera  Cruz  is  finally  released  to  the  Mex 
leans,  but  the  effect  of  the  manoeuvre  is 
not  lost.  It  creates  much  ill-feeling  in 
Mexico.  \"et  in  the  United  States  this 
has  probably  never  been  printed.  It  il- 
lustrates why  the  two  nations  do  not  trust 
each  other. 

But  here  is  another  illustration:  The 
United  States  is  not  content  to  keep  am- 
munition from 'being  exported  to  Mexico 
from  the  United  States.  The  Government 
of  Salvador  is  approached  by  the  State 
Department  and  warned  against  selling 
any  ammunition  to  the  Carranza  Govern- 
ment. A  protest  Is  made.  The  State  De- 
partment finally  yields.  Is  this  the  pro- 
cedure of  friendship?  Is  this  "moral  sup- 
port' 


ire  of  frie 
"?         X 


MBXICO     MANUFACTURING     AMMUNITION. 

To-day  the  Mexicans  are  manufactur- 
ing enough  ammunition  themselves  to  get 
along.  But  if  they  succeed  in  establish- 
ing a  strong  Government,  will  they  forget 
who  embarrassed  them  as  they  were 
struggling  to  their  feet?  Mexicans  nev.;r 
forget. 

The  Mexican  Government  is  in,  its  in- 
fancy. It  no  doubt  has  handled  its  foreign 
affairs  sometimes  in  a  fashion  exasperat- 
ing to  our  State  Department  There  arc 
no  trained  diplomats  versed  in  interna- 
tional etiquette  in  the  Mexican  Foreign 
Office  as  yet.  These  things  come  in  later 
stages  of  a  new  Government.  They  take 
time.  Instead  of  bearing  patiently  with 
these  faults  of  etiquette,  and  putting  in 
Mexico  an  Ambassador  who,  is  himself 
tactful  enough  to  overcome  such  handi- 
caps, the  officials  of  our  Gijvernment 
chafe  because  their  representations  air 
not  promptly  attended  to,  representations 
handled  by  men  not  even  accredited  offi- 
cially to  the  de  facto  Government,  and 
who  have  neither  the  initiative  nor  the 
authority  to  push  those  representations 
along  with  the  proper  authorities. 

Mexico  must  be  dealt  with  honorably, 
as  one  man  expects  another  to  deal  with 
him.  Let  us  ask  Mexico  what  she  wants. 
The  answer  will  be  this:  Withdrawal  of 
Pershing,  a  vigilant  patrol  of  the  border, 
and  enforcement  of  neutrality  in  Un- 
united States;  preventing  refugee  Mexi- 
cans from  financing  and  plotting  ne  v 
revolutionary  movements,  and  the  issu- 
ance of  a  warm  pronouncement  by  the 
United  States  of  moral  support  of  th<- 
de  facto  Government.    The  United  States 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  MEXICO 

ought  -  to  grant  this  without  asking  a 
thing  in  return.  The  sense  of  honor  of 
the  Mexican  is  as  highly  developed  as 
that  of  an  American.  When  you  loan  a 
man  money,  you  usually;  don't  ask  him  if 
he  will  loan  you  some  when  you  need  it 
You  don't  want  that  stipulated  In  ad- 
vance. You  inwardly  expect  it,-  and  if  he 
is  able,  you  trust  he  will  reciprocate. 

By  nisentangling  ourselves  from   bar- 
gains^ and  ceasing  to  treat  Mexico  as  a 
■^uspVct,  as  some  one'  who  will  not  keep 
her  word,  we  will  lay  a  new  foundation 
for  Mexican-American  relations. 

THB    SLATE    SHOULD    BE    CLEANBD. 

We  ought  to  start  out  with  a  clean 
slate.  We  should  withdraw  Gr>n.  Persh- 
ing's-forces  at  once,  and  not  try  to  drive 
any  bargains.  His  work  is  over.  Let 
the  United  States  stop  embarrassing  Car- 
ranza, who  is  being  held  up  every  day 
before  the  ignorant  masses  in  Mexico 
by  Villa  as  the  traitor  who.  sits  supinely 
by  while  American  troops  camp  on  the 
sacred  soil  of  Mexico.  Villa  has  been  is- 
suing proclamation  after  proclamation  to 
the  people  of  north  Mexico,  claiming  that 
he  is  about  to  attack  the  "foreign  in- 
vader." He  appeals  to  their  patriotic  pas- 
sions, telling:  them  Mexico  is  at  war  with 
the  United  States,  and  the  masses  in 
northern  Mexico,  having,  no  newspapers 
with  which  to  verify  the  report,  naturally 
credit  it.  Then  Villa  recruits  a  few  thou- 
sand men,  descends  on  a  small  garrison  at 
Chihuahua  or  Torreon,  holds  the  city  for 
a  few  days  until  the  Carranza  forces  in 
greater  numbers  arrive  on  the  scene,  and 
then  retreats  to  the  mountains. 

It  costs  much  money  for  the  Carranza 
Government  to  carry  on  a  campaign 
against  one  who  simply  robs  foreigners  of 
their  gold  bullion,  and  gives  it  to  the  peon 
troops  as  pay.  The  Carranza  authorities 
need  a  loan  wherewith  to  equip  their 
army,  yet  in  the  United  States  the  mere 
capture  of  Chihuahua  or  Torreon  for  a 
few  days  makes  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  hesitant  about  continuing 
to  support  the  de  facto  Government,  and 
thereby  gives  to  these  incidents  an  impor- 
tance which  they  ought  never  to  have. 
For  in  Mexico  the  state  of  Chihuahua  is 
looked  upon  as  a  wild  country,  the  dis- 
turbances in  which  bear  no  real  relation 
to  the  score  of  states  of  the  republic 
where  almost  normal  conditions  prevail. 
Some  people  have  an  idea  that  the  pres- 
ence of  Pershing  has  a  salutary  effeot  on 


Villa,  and  that  with  the  latter's  small 
success,  the  Pershing  expedition  should 
not  now  of  all  times  be  withdrawn;  but 
by  keeping  Pershing  in  Mexico,  we 
strengthen  Villa's  hand  and  antagonize 
Carranza,  encouraging  conditions  of  an- 
archy. Gen.  Pershing  is  hundreds  of 
miles  north  of  Torreon,  where  Villa  is 
operating,  and  Villa,  will  keep  that  dis- 
tance between  them  if  Pershing  is  with- 
drawn to  the  American  line.  He  will 
never  come  close  again  for  a  raid,  be- 
cause the  American  troops  have  learned 
a  lesson  and  will  not  be  caught  napping  a 
second  time. 

And  simultaneous  with  the  with- 
drawal of  our  troops  let  Ambassador 
Fletcher  start  for  Mexico  to  carry  , 
forward  this  programme  of  construc- 
tive friendship.  Let  us  stop  issuing 
threats  hnd  informing  bandits  exactly  how 
they  can  provoke  international  compli- 
cations. Let  us  stand  by  the  Government 
we  have  recognized  and  help  it  mak« 
good  by  not  asking  a  thing  for  ourselves. 
But,  some  American  officials  will  say, 
isn't  this  giving  Mexico  her  own  way; 
isn't  this  giving  up  our  "rights?"  The* 
answer  is  to  be  found  in  this  question: 
Aren't  we  big  enough  to  give  Mexico 
what  she  wants,  what  she  thinks  will 
give  her  internal  peace  and  stability? 
Can't  we  afford  once  to  take  her  word 
for  it?  For  certainly  if  Mexico  is  right 
and  a  strong  central  government  issues, 
there  will  be  no  border  raids-,  no  further 
assault  on  Americans  in  Mexico,  but 
peace  and  order.  And  if  the  Carranza 
Government  is  wrong  and  fails,  having 
been  sincerely  helped,  would  the  Amer- 
ican Government  not  find  a  unanimous 
opinion  later,  instead  of  the  divided  opin-- 
ion  of  to-day  as  to  certain  other  drastic 
measures  that  might  then  be  inevit- 
able? 

But  Mexico  knows  her  own  problem 
and  peculiar  conditions,  and  will  never 
consciously  furnish  a  pretext  for  inter- 
vention. She  needs  American  help,  and 
if  she  gets  it,  will  reciprocate.  Her 
self-respect  <and  honor  will  compel  it.  Let 
America  deal  with  Mexico  on  a  basis  of 
honor,  as  nations  should,  and  the  results 
that  will  flow  therefrom  will  be  a  revela- 
tion in  diplomacy — the  actual  fulfilment 
of  the  ideals  we  describe  -so  eloquently 
in  words,  but  all  too  seldom  translate 
in  deeds. 


02169 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 

University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(510)642-6753 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days 

prior  to  due  date 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


NOV  3  o  mi 


Berkeley 


